A HISTORY 



University of Pennsylvania 

FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO 
A. D. 1770 



INCLUDING 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

OF THE 

TRUSTEES, FACULTY, THE FIRST ALUMNI 
AND OTHERS 



Thomas Harrison Montgomery 

MEMBER OF THE 

Historical Society of Pennsylvania, New York Historical Society^ 
Chester County Historical Society, Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 

Etc. Etc. Etc. 



I think, moreover, that Talents for the Education of Youth are the Gift of God ; and 
that He on Whom they are bestowed, whenever a Way is opened for the Use of Them, 
is as strongly Called as if He heard a Voice from Heaven ; Nothing more surely 
Pointing out Duty in a Public Service than Ability and Opportunity of Performing it. 

Dr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson.^ 23 August, 1750. 



PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO 

103-105 SOUTH 15TH STREET 
A. D. 1900 



Library 0/ Congfti^ 
Office f tha 

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Copyright, 1900, 
By George W. Jacobs & Co. 



The edition of this book is limited to y^o copies, 
of which this is NoJ ^O . 



ERRATA. 



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PREFACE. 

Some years ago the late Provost, Dr. Pepper, sought my 
interest in writing a History of the University of Pennsylvania 
from its beginning to the present generation, and asked me to 
undertake it. The honor of his urgency in the matter was so 
flattering that I eventually agreed to respond to his call, and 
soon made preparations for the work, which was to be carried 
on within my own time and opportunities. The progress of 
this was a great pleasure to me, and its course proved both 
entertaining and instructive as the material for its compilation 
was both rich and ample. 

My labors had to be carried on in the interval hours of a 
busy life, but in a year or two its claims seemed to press ; and 
finally, even after some weeks respite abroad, I found myself 
unable to proceed beyond the year 1769, when health dictated 
my arresting the work there. 

Complete as it is to this point I now submit it to the friends 
of the University. These early years of its operations here set 
forth in full illustrate its formative period, which is the most 
instructive in its life. The detail, it is hoped, truly portrays the 
Men and Movements of the ante-Revolutionary period in the 
Province of Pennsylvania : and as the Movements of that colonial 
period, all in some degree, shed their light on the colony's great- 
est educational undertaking ; so the Men concerned in it were 
the representatives of the contemporary thought, and moved 
with influence in those circles which shaped the destinies of the 
Province, as well also those of the Nation that was then approach- 
ing its adult years. 

If this picture of those times (for the University was neces- 
sarily a part of them) will serve to enlighten and interest its 
Alumni, and form any inspiration to its Matriculates, in the 



4 Preface. 

personal portrayals of the men who built the foundations upon 
which the present great superstructure rests, the writer will be 
gratified. 

Having been himself at one time a pupil in the old Academy- 
building, his interest has been enhanced in the course of the 
present work by the memory of his attendance on tuition in the 
venerable birthplace, now no more, of the great educational 
institution whose continuing years have left a record of such 
great interest, and which to-day holds out such enlarging prom- 
ises, the fruitage of the seed laid there in 1749 by the "vol- 
untary society of founders," as the Trustees were termed by 
the first Provost. 

THOS. H. MONTGOMERY. 

Ardrossan, 
2j February, igoo. 



SOME OF THE WORKS REFERRED TO IN THE FOLLOWING 

PAGES. 

Aberdeen University. — Mss. Abstracts and Minutes from Records. 

Alden, Timothy. — A Collection of American Epitaphs. New York, 
1 8 14. 

Allen, Ethan. — Historical Notices of St. Anne's Parish, Annapolis 
Baltimore, 1857. 

Allibone, S. Austin. — A Critical Dictionary of English Literature. 
Philadelphia, 1858. 

Allison & Penrose. — Philadelphia, a History of Municipal Develop- 
ment. Philadelphia, 1887. 

"American Magazine or Monthly Chronicle for the British Colonies." 

1757- 

Arnold, Matthew. — Address on Foreign Education, read in University 
Chapel, 1886. 

Ayres, Anne. — Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenberg, 
D. D. New York, 1881. 

Bancroft, George. — History of the United States. 13th ed. Boston, 1846. 

Barton, Thomas. — Sermon on Unanimity and Publick Spirit. I755- 

Beardsley, E. Edwards. — Life and Correspondence of Samuel Johnson, 
D. D. 1874. 

Life and Correspondence of Samuel Seabury, D. D. 1881. 

Bigelow, John. — The Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin. New 
York and London, 1887. 

Bowring, John. — Compendious System of Natural Philosophy. Lon- 
don, 1744. 

Brown, John. — Sermon, on publication of the Brief 6 March 1763. 

Brown, David Paul. — The Forum. Philadelphia, 1886. 

Buchanan, Edward Y. — Early History of Trinity Church, Oxford. 
Two Discourses. Philadelphia, 1885. 

Burnaby, Andrew. — Travels through the Middle Settlements in North 
America, in the Years 1759 ^^^ 1760. London, 1798. 

Burd Papers, the. — Extracts from Chief Justice William Allen's Letter 
Book, by Lewis Burd "Walker. 1897. 

Burnet, Gilbert. — History of my own Times, 1734. 

Carson, Joseph. — History of the Medical Department of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. 1869. 

Coates, Mary. — Family Memorials, Philadelphia, 1885. 

Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Historical Society. New York, 
1851. 

Delaware County Historical Society, Proceedings, 



6 Works Referred To. 

Dexter, Franklin B. — Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale 
College with Annals of the College History. 1885. 

Duyckinck, Evart A. & George L. — Cyclopcedia of American Litera- 
ture. New York, 1856. 

Fisher, J. Francis. — Sketch of James Logan. In Sparks' Works of 
Benjamin Franklin, 1840. 

Fisher, Sidney G. — Church Colleges, their History, Position and 
Importance. Philadelphia, 1895. 

Ford, Paul Leicester. — Bibliography of Benjamin Franklin. Brook- 
lyn, 1889. 

Forster, J. Montgomery. — Memoir of Rev. Joseph Montgomery. 1879. 

Franklin, Benjamin. — Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in 
Pennsylvania. 1 749 . 

Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Public Affairs. 

1764. 

Narrative of the late Massacres in Lancaster County of a 

Number of Indians, friends of the Province. 1764. 

Remarks on a late protest against the appointment of Mr. 

Franklin as Agent for the Province of Pennsylvania. 1764. 

Observations relative to the intentions of the original founders 

of the Academy in Philadelphia. 1789. 

Franklin, William Temple. — Memoirs of the Life and Writings of 
Benjamin Franklin. London, 1818. 

"Gentlemen's Magazine," the. 

Gledstone, James P. — Life and Travels of George Whitefield. Lon- 
don, 1 87 1. 

Gordon, Thomas F. — History of Pennsylvania. 1829. 

Graydon, Alexander. — Memoirs of a Life chiefly passed in Pennsyl- 
vania. 181 1. 

Hildeburn, Charles R. — Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania. 1886. 

Hopkinson, Francis. — Errata on the Art of Printing incorrectly . . . 
Examples taken from a Latin Grammar lately printed, etc. Philadelphia, 
1763. 

The Psalms of David, etc., etc. For the use of the Reformed 

Protestant Dutch Church in the City of New York. New York, 1766. 

Miscellaneous Essays and Occasional Writings. Philadelphia, 

1793- 

Hosack, David. — Inaugural Discourse delivered at the opening of 
Rutgers Medical School in the City of New York, 1826. 

Hunt, Isaac. — Letters from Transylvania. 1764. 

Jay, Sir James. — Letter to the Governors of the College of New York 
respecting the Collection for the Colleges of Philadelphia and New York. 
London, 1771. 

Jenkins, Howard M. — Family of William Penn. 1899. 



Works Referred To. 7 

Johnson, Samuel. — Elementa Philosophica, containing chiefly Noetica 
or Things Relating to the Mind or Understanding, etc. Philadelphia, 
1752. 

American Annotations on Bishop Berkeley's Treatise on the 

Principles of Human Knowledge. 

Keith, Charles P. — The Provincial Councillors of Pennsylvania. 1883. 

Kingsley, William L.— Yale College ; a Sketch of Its History. 1879. 

Krauth, Charles V. — Treatise, etc., with Prolegomena and Annota- 
tions. Philadelphia, 1886. 

Lewis, William. — Commercium Philosophico-technicum. London, 
1 736-' 66. 

Logan, Deborah. — Penn and Logan Correspondence. 1870. 

Martin, John Hill. — Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. 1883. 

"Maryland Gazette," The. 

McMaster, John B. & Stone, Frederick D. — Pennsylvania and the 
Federal Constitution. Philadelphia, 1888. 

Meats, Anne deB. — Old York Road and Its Early Associations, 
Philadelphia, 1890. 

Mifflin, John. — History of the Origin, Progress, and Termination of 
the American War. London, 1 794. 

Morgan, John. — A Discourse upon the Institution of Medical Schools 
in America. Delivered at the Public Anniversary Commencement held in 
the College of Philadelphia, May 30 and 31, 1765. Philadelphia, 1765. 

Morton, Thomas G. — The History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 
1751-1895. Philadelphia, 1895. 

Newman, F. W. — The English Universities, from the German of V. A. 
Huber. London, 1843. 

Newman, John Henry. — Office and Work of Universities. London, 
1856. 

"New York Gazette," The. 

New York Historical Society, Collections of. 

" New York Mercury," The. 

Overseers of the Public School of Friends, Mss. and Minutes. 

Palfrey, John G. — A History of New England during the Stuart 
Dynasty. 1 859-1 864. 

Parton, James. — Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. New York, 
1864. 

' ' Pennsylvania Gazette, The. ' ' 

' ' Pennsylvania Journal, The. ' ' 

" Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography," the 

Perry, William Stevens. — Historical Collections of the American 
Colonial Church. 1871. 

History of the American Episcopal Church. 1885, 

Philipps, Thomas. — Way of Teaching Languages. 1723. 



8 Works Referred To. 

Porter, Noah. — American Colleges and the American Public. 1878. 

Proud, Robert. — History of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 1797. 

" Quarterly Theological Magazine, " Philadelphia. 1814. 

Quincy, Josiah. — History of Harvard University. Cambridge, 1849. 

Reed, William B. — Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed. Phila- 
delphia, 1847. 

Ridgely, H. W. — Old Brick Churches of Maryland. New York, 1894. 

"Royal Gazette, The." 

Sargent, John. — The Mine and other Poems. 1784. 

Scharf & Westcott. — History of Philadelphia. 1884. 

Smith, Horace "W. — Life and Correspondence of the Rev. William 
Smith, D. D.,etc. Philadelphia, 1880. 

Smith, Rev. William. — Some thoughts on Education with Reasons 
for Erecting a College in this Province, and fixing the same at the Oity of 
New York. 1752. 

A General Idea of the College of Mirania. 1753. 

A Poem on visiting the Academy of Philadelphia, June, 1753. 

Personal Affliction and frequent Reflection upon human Life, 

of great use to lead man to the Remembrance of God. Philadelphia, 1754. 

Discourses on Several Public occasions during the War in 

America. London, 1759. 2nd ed., 1762. 

An Historical Account of the Expedition against the Ohio 

Indians in the year 1764. 1765. 

Works. 1 803. 

Sparks, Jared. — The Works of Benjamin Franklin. 1840. 

Sprague, William B. — Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit. 
New York, 1859. 

Stewart, Andrew. — Short Introduction to Grammar for the use of the 
College and Academy in Philadelphia, etc. 1762. 

Stiles, Ezra. — In Gratulatione Nobilissimi et Amplissimi viri B. 
Franklinii, &c., &c. 1818. 

Mss. Diary. 

Stille, Charles J. — Life and Times of John Dickinson. 1891. 

A Memoir of the Rev. William Smith, D. D. 1869. 

Thacher, James. — American Medical Biography. 1828. 

Thom, Walter. — History of Aberdeen. Aberdeen, 181 1. 

Tyerman. — Life of Rev. George Whitefield. 1876. 

University of Pennsylvania. Biographical Catalogue of the Matricu- 
lates of the College, etc. 1749-1893. Philadelphia, 1894. 

Mss. Minutes of the Academy and College. 

Watson, John F. — Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. 1870. 

Westcott, Thompson. — Historic Mansions of Philadelphia. Revised 
ed. Philadelphia, 1S95. 



Works Referred To. 9 

White, Andrew. — History of the Warfare of Science and Theology. 
1896. 

White, William. — Commentaries suited to occasions of Ordination. 
New York, 1833. 

Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church. New York, 1836. 

Memoir of the Life of Dr. Bird Wilson. 1839. 

Whitehead, William. — A Charge to the Poets. 1762. 

Wickersham, James P. — History of Education in Pennsylvania. 1886. 

William and Mary College, Historical Sketch of. Baltimore, 1870. 

Williamson, Hugh. — History of North Carohna. Philadelphia, 1812. 

Wister, Charles J., Jr. — Memoir of Charles J. Wister, 1866. 

Wood, George B. — History of the University of Pennsylvania. 1827. 
Also edited in 1896 by Frederick D. Stone. 

Wordsworth, Christopher. — Social Life at the English Universities. 
London, 1874. 



I. 

Benjamin Franklin laid the first stone of an institution 
which was destined to outgrow in usefulness and in influence 
any other of the creations of his fertile brain, when he announced 
in a communication to the printers of his Pennsylvania Gazette 
which appeared on 24 August, 1749, the prospectus of his 
scheme for the higher education of youth in his adopted city 
in the following sentences : 

In the settling of new countries, the first care of the planters must 
be to provide and secure the necessaries of life; this engrosses their 
attention, and affords them little time to think of any thing farther. We 
may therefore excuse our ancestors, that they established no Academy 
or college in this province, wherein their youth might receive a polite 
and learned education. Agriculture and mechanic arts, were of the 
most immediate importance ; the ctdtttre of minds by the finer arts and 
sciences, was necessarily postpon' d to times of more wealth and leisure. 

Since those times are come, and numbers of our inhabitants are 
both able and willing to give their sons a good education, if it might be 
had at home, free from the extraordinary expence and hazard in send- 
ing them abroad for that purpose ; and since a proportion of men of 
learning is useful in every country, and those who of late years come to 
settle among us, are chiefly foreigners, unacquainted with our language, 
laws and customs ; it is thought a proposal for establishing an Academy 
in this province, will not now be deemed unseasonable. Such a pro- 
posal the publick may therefore shortly expect. In the meantime, please 
to give the following letter of the younger Pliny to Cornelius Tacitus,^ a 
place in your paper, as it seems apropos to the design above mentioned . 

Pliny junior to Cornelius Tacitus. 
I Rejoice that you are safely arrived in Ro7ne ; for tho' I am always 
desirous to see you, I am more particularly so now. I purpose to continue 
a few days longer at my house in Tusculum, in order to finish a work 
which I have upon my hands : For I am afraid, should I put a stop to this 
design, now that it is so nearly compleated, I shall find it difficult to resume 
it. In the meanwhile, that I may lose no time, I send this letter before 
me, to request a favour of you, which I hope shortly to ask in person. But 
before I inform you what my request is, I must let you into the occasion of 



^ SeeMelraoth's Letters of Pliny the Consul, Book IV. Letter 13. Franklin's 
Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania are repeated in full 
in Appendix I. 



12 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

it. Being lately in Comum, the place of my nativity, a young lad, son to 
one of my neighbors, made me a visit. I asked him whether he studied 
oratory and where? He told me he did, and at Medolianum.^ And why 
not here ? Because (said his father, who came with him) we have no mas- 
ters. "No! said I, surely it nearly concerns you, who are fathers (and 
very opportunely several of the company were so) that your sons should 
receive their education here, rather than anywhere else: For where can 
they be placed more agreeably than in their own country, or instructed with 
more safety, and less expence, than at home, and under the eye of their 
parents ? Upon what very easy terms might you, by a general contribu- 
tion, procure proper masters, if you would only apply towards the raising a 
salary for them, the extraordinary expence it costs you for your sons' 
journies, lodgings, and whatsoever else you pay for upon account of their 
being abroad ; as pay indeed you must in such a case for every thing ? 
Tho' I have no children myself, yet I shall willingly contribute to a design 
so beneficial to (what I look upon as a child, or a parent) my country ; and 
therefore I will advance a third part of any sum you shall think proper to 
raise for this purpose. I would take upon myself the whole expence, were 
I not apprehensive that my benefaction might hereafter be abused, and 
perverted to private ends; as I have observed to be the case in several 
places where publick foundations of this nature have been established. 
The single means to prevent this mischief is, to have the choice of the 
masters entirely in the breast of the parents, who will be so much the more 
careful to determine properly, as they shall be obliged to share the expence 
of maintaining them. For tho' they may be careless in disposing of 
another' s bounty, they will certainly be cautious how they apply their own ; 
and will see that none but those who deserve it shall receive my money, 
when they must at the same time receive theirs too. Let my example 
then encourage you to unite heartily in this useful design, and be assured, 
the greater the sum my share shall amount to, the more agreeable it will be 
to me. You can undertake nothing that will be more advantageous to 
your children, nor more acceptable to your country. They will, by this 
means, receive their education where they receive their birth, and b'e 
accustomed, from their infancy, to inhabit and affect their native soil. 
May you be able to procure professors of such distinguished abilities, that 
the neighboring towns shall be glad to draw their learning from hence ; and 
as you now send your children to foreigners for education, may foreigners 
in their turn flock hither for their instruction." I thought proper thus to 
lay open to you the rise of this affair, that you might be the more sensible 
how agreeable it will be to me, if you undertake the office I request. I 
entreat you, therefore, with all the earnestness a matter of so much 
importance deserves, to look out, amongst the great numbers of men of 

2 Milan. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. i 3 

letters, which the reputation of your genius brings to you, proper persons 
to whom we may apply for this purpose ; but without entering into any 
agreement with them on my part. For I would leave it entirely free to the 
parents to judge and choose as they shall see proper: All the share I pre- 
tend to claim is, that of contributing my care and my money. If, there- 
fore, any one shall be found, who thinks himself qualified for the under- 
taking, he may repair thither ; but without relying upon anything but his 
merit. Farewell. 



II. 

These proposals were the consummation of many years' 
reflection over the wants of the Province, which he had made 
his home, in the matter of better and larger educational facilities, 
for the growing generations. The early settlers of Pennsylvania 
had brought with them the culture of their home training, but 
as Franklin expresses it, the demands of the urgent present for- 
bade them laying preparations for a like training to their children. 
His own native city had as its immediate neighbor the town of 
Cambridge, where Harvard College had already existed for one 
hundred and twelve years. In its training and its influence he 
had no share ; " his father, burdened with a numerous family, 
was unable without inconvenience to support the expense of a 
college education," he records in his autobiography.^ 

I was put to the grammar school at eight years of age ; my father 
intending to devote me, as the tithe of his sons, to the service of the 
church. My early readiness in learning to read [he continues], (which 
must have been very early, as I do not remember when I could not read,) 
and the opinion of all his friends, that I should certainly make a good 
scholar, encouraged him in this purpose of his. My uncle Benjamin, too, 
approved of it, and proposed to give me all his short -hand volumes of 
sermons, I suppose as a stock to set up with, if I would learn his charac- 
ter. I continued, however, at the grammar school not quite one year, 
though in that time I had risen gradually from the middle of the class of 



1 Complete Works of Benjainin Franklin. John Bigelow, 1SS7. i 3^- 



14 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

that year to be the head of it, and farther was removed into the next class 
above it in order to go with that into the third at the end of the year. But 
my father, in the meantime, from a view of the expense of a college edu- 
cation, which having so large a family he could not well afford, and the 
mean living many so educated were afterwards able to obtain — reasons 
that he gave to his friends in my hearing — altered his first intention, took 
me from the grammar-school, and sent me to a school for writing and 
arithmetic, kept by a then famous man, Mr. George Brownell, very suc- 
cessful in his profession, generally, and that by mild, encouraging methods. 
Under him I acquired fair writing pretty soon ; but I failed in the. arith- 
metic, and made no progress in it. At ten years old I was taken home to 
assist my father in his business, which was that of a tallow chandler and 
sope-boiler. 

This is the brief but expressive story of Franklin's own 
education, and how Harvard came to lose another matriculant 
and an alumnus whose name would have adorned its long roll 
However, in 1753, it conferred on him the honor of Magis- 
ter Artiuni, as had Yale in the same year,^ and William and 
Mary in 1756. To these degrees higher collegiate honors were 
bestowed on the man who though not a collegian was the 
creator of a university, as St. Andrews in 1759 made him Juris 
Utriusque Doctor, and Oxford in 1762 enrolled him as Juris 
Civilis Doctor.^ And yet the child of his own creation never 
enrolled his name as the possessor of one of its Degrees. 

For two years he continued thus employed in his father's 



^ " The College of Cambridge of their own motion, presented me with the 
degree of Master of Arts. Yale College in Connecticut, had before made me a sim- 
ilar compliment. Thus without studying in any college, I came to partake of their 
honours. They were conferred in consideration of my improvements and discoveries 
in the electric branch of natural philosophy." — Bigelow, i, 242. 

"Whereas Benjamin Franklin E.squire, by his ingenious Experiments and 
Theory of Electrical Fire has greatly merited of the Learned World : it is therefore 
considered that the said Benjamin Franklin shall receive the Honour of a Degree of 
Master of Arts," at Yale College Commencement, 12 September 1753. v. Bax- 
ter's Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College luith Atutals of the Col- 
lege History^ p. 304. 

' Oxford at the same time conferred M. A. on his son William. — Sparks, i, 250, 
267. In the same month that his St. Andrews degree was conferred, the City oi" 
Edinburgh presented him with the freedom of the city in the following record : 
" Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia is hereby admitted a burgess and guild-brother 
of this city, as a mark of the affectionate respect which the Magistrates and Council 
have for a gentleman, whose amiable character, greatly distinguished for usefulness 
to the society which he belongs to, and love to all mankind, had long ago reached 
them across the Atlantic Ocean." 1,251. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 15 

business ; but his " bookish inclination at length determined his 
father to make him a printer" though he had already one son 
(James) of that profession. 

I liked it much better than that of my father, but still had a hanker- 
ing for the sea. To prevent the apprehended effect of such an inclination, 
my father was impatient to have me bound to my brother. I stood out 
some time, but at last was persuaded, and signed the indenture, when I was 
but twelve years old. His father's little library consisted chiefly of books 
in polemic divinity, most of which I read. * * * Plutarch' s Lives 
there was, in which I read abundantly, and I still think that time spent to 
great advantage. I now had access to better books. An acquaintance 
with the apprentices of booksellers enabled me sometimes to borrow a small 
one, which I was careful to return soon, and clean. Often I sat up in my 
room reading the greatest part of the night, when the book was borrowed 
in the evening and to be returned early in the morning, lest it should be 
missed or wanting. [He became intimately acquainted with] another book- 
ish lad in the town, John Collins by name, with whom I was intimately 
acquainted. ■» * * About this time I met with an odd volume of the 
Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them . I 
bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I 
thought the writing * excellent, and wished if possible to imitate it. 

But his apprenticeship to his brother, notwithstanding all 
these waysides of literary pleasure and self education was made 
irksome to him ; either his brother's tyranny or jealousy, per- 
haps both, oppressed his ingenious energy, and he sought means 
to leave him and he says : 

I was sensible that if I attempted to go openly, means would be used 
to prevent me. My friend Collins therefore undertook to manage a little 
for me. He agreed with the Captain of a New York sloop for my passage 
* * * So I sold some of my books to raise a little money, was taken on 
board privately, and as we had a fair wind, in three days I found myself in 
New York, near 300 miles from home, a boy of but 17, without the least 
recommendation to or knowledge of, any person in ^ the place, and with 
very little money in my pocket. Here, [he says,] I offered my service to 
the printer in that place old Mr. William Bradford, who had been the first 
printer in Pennsylvania, removed from thence upon the quarrel of George 
Keith. He could give me no employment, having little to do, and help 
enough already, but says he : My son at Philadelphia has lately lost his 
principal hand, Aquila Rose, by death ; if you go thither I believe he may 
employ you.® 



* Bigelow, i. 45, 47. 5 Ibid, i. 57. ^ \\,\^^ i. 58. 



1 6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

And the young Bostonian at once set out on his way to 
the city where he made his home the remainder of his long and 
eventful life, and which in its oldest institutions, whether of phil- 
anthropy, of benevolence, of education, of science, or of busi- 
ness, testifies to his genius of organization and his fertility of 
resources. 



III. 

The story of Franklin's landing in Philadelphia on that 
October Sunday morning in 1723, the same day in the week 
when in 1706 he first drew breath in Boston, is well known but 
always interesting. His walk up Market Street, with his three 
penny worth of rolls, " with a roll under each arm and eating 
the other," and back by Chestnut and Walnut Streets to the 
place of the landing, "to which I went for a draught of the 
river water, where being filled with one of my rolls, gave the 
other two to a woman and her child that came down the river 
with us, and were waiting to go farther." 

Thus refreshed, I walked again up the street which by this time had 
many clean-dressed people in it, who were all walking the same way. I joined 
them, and thereby was led into the great meeting of the Quakers near the 
market. I sat down among them, and after looking round awhile and 
hearing nothing said, being very drowsy thro' labor and want of rest the 
preceding night, I fell fast asleep, and continued so till the meeting broke 
up, when one was kind enough to rouse me. This vyas therefore, the first 
house I was in, or slept in, in Philadelphia.^ 

It was a notable day in the annals of our city in which 
Franklin was introduced to it, and the simple story in his own 
inimitable phrases seems ever to renew an interest in its perusal. 
He wrote this narrative nearly half a century afterwards, but the 
vividness of his memory brought up to his mind the quaint 

^ Bigelow, i. 63. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 17 

scenes of that day, and the tale is told us as freshly as if written 
at the time. 

On Monday morning he reported bright and early at 
Andrew Bradford's, and he tells us he there " found in the shop 
the old man, his father, whom I had seen at New York, and 
who, traveling on horseback, had got to Philadelphia before me. 
He introduced me to his son, who received me civilly, gave 
me a breakfast, but told me he did not at present want a hand." 
William Bradford undertook to introduce him to the " new 
printer, lately set up, one Keimer " who " not discovering that he 
was the other printer's father," babbled about his plans and said 
" he expected soon to get the greatest part of the business into 
his own hands," whereat Bradford "drew him on by artful 
questions and starting little doubts " to tell more of his 
plans, and Franklin " who stood by and heard all, saw im- 
mediately that one of them was a crafty old sophister, and the 
other a mere novice." ^ He lodged at Bradford's the while 
helping Keimer and doing small jobs for the former. But this 
first interview laid the seeds of the distrust between him and 
that family which was fostered in subsequent years by his suc- 
cessful opposition and intensified by later political controversies. 

By promises from Sir William Keith, whose duplicit 
character he had yet to find out, he engaged to go to England 
to purchase printing apparatus wherewith to furnish a great 
establishment in Philadelphia ; and in November 1724 he sailed 
thither, only to find the Governor's promises utterly worthless ; 
he remained in London, working as best he might at his trade, 
and by October 1726 he was again in Philadelphia. For a 
young man who had not yet attained his majority, this was an 
education which not alone developed his self reliance but also 
added knowledge as well as experience to his stock of weapons 
wherewith to continue his battle with life. 

In the year following he tells us he " form'd most of my 
ingenious acquaintances into a club of mutual improvement, 
which we called the Junto." ^ These were Joseph Brientnal, 

^ Bigelow, i. 64. ' Ibid, i. 141. 



1 8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

a scrivener ; Thomas Godfrey, the mathematician ; Nicholas 
Scull, a surveyor ; William Parsons, afterwards surveyor general ; 
William Maugridge,* "joiner, but a most exquisite mechanic;" 
Hugh Meredith,'' "a Welsh Pennsylvanian, thirty years of age, 
bred to country work," and afterwards his partner for twelve years 
in the Pennsylvania Gazette ; Stephen Potts, " a young country- 
man of full age, of uncommon natural parts, and great wit and 
humor, but a little idle ; " George Webb, "an Oxford scholar ; " 
Robert Grace, " a young gentleman of some fortune, generous, 
lively and witty; " and lastly, "William Coleman, then a mer- 
chant's clerk, about my age, who had the coolest, clearest head, 
the best heart, and the exactest morals, of almost any man I 
ever met with. He became afterwards a merchant of great note, 
and one of our provincial judges," who also became one of the 
original trustees of the Academy and College in 1749, and 
remained Franklin's most faithful coadjutor in this work until 
his death in 1769. 

The Club continued almost as long, and was the best school of 
philosophy, morality, and politics, that then existed in the province ; for 
our queries, which were read the week preceding their discussion, put us 
upon reading with attention upon the several subjects, that we might speak 
more to the purpose ; and here, too, we acquired better habits of conver- 
sation, everything being studied in our rules, which might prevent us 
disgusting each other. ^ 

From this quiet but influential centre grew in 1743 the 
institution of the first American Philosophical Society of which 
Thomas Hopkinson was the first President, which had not long 
existence, but was revived again by the greater organization of 
1769, with Benjamin Franklin as its first President, though he 
was at the time absent in London representing his adopted 
province. Thus early did this young man display and exercise 
his rare leadership, and attract to his side men of thought and 
ideas ; for one but twenty-two years of age to secure the 
attention of men, mostly his seniors, to weekly meetings for the 
discussion of useful and informing topics, indicates as great an 
instance as any displayed by him in later years of his strong 

*A Vestryman of Christ Church in 1742 and again in 1744. 
^Bigelow, i. 131. « Ibid, i. 143. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 19 

executive ability, and his wonderful powers of attraction among 
all with whom he was associated in any enterprise. We dwell 
upon the great affairs of those later years in which he had such 
a directing hand, but these peculiar characteristics of his were 
being developed and matured a half century before the historian 
of his country devotes his pages to his later works. Franklin's 
accounts of all these matters is as engaging as it is frank; and 
it is this same frankness which also gives us that other and 
more human side of his early life in which occur those youthful 
follies and misdoings which seemed to have furnished his 
enemies with their most pointed weapons. 



IV 

In 1728 he made a partnership with his friend Meredith for 
the extension of his printing business, and soon thought of 
establishing a paper. 

My hopes of success, as I told him, [his narrative proceeds], were 
founded on this : that the then only newspaper, printed by Bradford, was 
a paltry thing, wretchedly managed, no way entertaining, and yet was 
profitable to him ; I therefore thought a good paper would scarcely fail of 
good encouragement.^ [But his scheme getting to the ears of his old 
employer, Keimer, the latter began a paper] ; and, after carrying it on three 
quarters of a year, with at most only ninety subscribers, he offered it me 
for a trifle ; and I, having been ready some time to go on with it, took it in 
hand directly, and it proved in a few years extremely profitable to me. 

He now called the paper the Pennsylvania Gazette, and his 
first number was issued 2 October, 1729. He says : 

Our first papers made quite a different appearance from any before 
in the province ; a better type, and better printed. * * * Our number 
[of subscribers] went on growing continually. This was one of the first 
good effects of my having learned a little to scribble ; another was that the 
leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the hands of one who could also 

^Bigelow, i. 145. 



20 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

handle a pen, thought it convenient to oblige and encourage me * * * * 
Bradford had printed an address of the House to the Governor, in a coarse, 
blundering manner ; we reprinted it elegantly and correctly, and sent one 
to every member. They were sensible of the difference ; it strengthened 
the hands of our friends in the House, and they voted us their printers for 
the year ensuing.* 

And this was the work of a young Printer who was his own 
Editor and only twenty-three years of age. Modern times 
record no instances of greater ingenuity and industry. 

The Junto in 1731 afforded Frankhn thoughts of another 
scheme ; he says ^ 

By clubbing our) books to a common library, we should, while we 
lik'd to keep them ^together, have each of us the advantage of using the 
books of all the other members, which would be nearly as beneficial as if 
each owned the whole ; * * * yet some inconveniences occurring for want 
of due care of them, the collection after about a year was separated ; and each 
•took his books home again. And now I set on foot my first project of a 
public nature, that for a subscription library. I drew up the proposals, got 
them put into form by our great scrivener, Brockden, and by the help of 
my friends in the Junto, procured fifty subscribers of forty shillings each to 
begin with, and ten shillings a year for fifty years, the term our company 
was to continue. * * this was the mother of all the North American sub- 
scription libraries, now so numerous. These libraries have improved the 
general conversation of the Americans, made the common tradesmen and 
farmers as intelligent as most gentlemen from other countries, and perhaps 
have contributed in some degree to the stand so generally made throughout 
the colonies in defence of their privileges . 

He writes this in 1771 in the dawn of our great struggle, of 
his co-directors in the institution of the Library Company of 
Philadelphia on i July 1731. Thomas Hopkinson, Philip Syng, 
and Thomas Cadwalader, became also his co-trustees eighteen 
years later in the Academy and College, and his faithful friend 
William Coleman was elected Treasurer. This Company attracted 
to itself in later years the testamentary gift to the public of the fine 
private library of James Logan whose knowledge and judgment 
had been consulted by Franklin in the first selection of books 
for their shelves. The oldest public library in the country owes 
its inception and planting to a young man but twenty-five years 

'Bigelow, i. 149. 'ibid, i. 159. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 21 

of age. In 1784 Franklin records,'* "this library afforded me 
the means of improvement by constant study, for which I set 
apart an hour or two each day ; and thus repaired in some 
degree the loss of the learned education my father once intended 
for me." He was looking backward nigh fourscore years to his 
native city, and the "learned education " he might have attained 
to on the banks of the Charles River. With what great satisfac- 
tion he must have contemplated the great institution for learning 
he had launched eighteen years after his Library scheme had 
been consummated. 

It was in 1731 that he took part in the formation of St. 
John's Lodge in Philadelphia, so far as known, the earliest estab- 
lished Masonic Lodge in America. In this interesting associa- 
tion he had the fellowship of his co-trustees William Allen, 
Thomas Hopkinson, James Hamilton, Dr. Thomas Bond, Will- 
iam Plumsted, Philip Syng and Dr. Cadwalader.^ Franklin was 
on a Committee appointed "to consider of the present State of 
the Lodge and of the properest Methods to improve it," and 
the Committee's report of 5 June, 1732, is in his handwriting. 
He was Junior Grand Warden of Pennsylvania that year, was 
Grand Master in 1734 and again in 1749, and Deputy Grand 
Master from 1750 to 1755. 

At the close of the year following Franklin first published 
his Poor Richard" s Almanac, which was continued about twenty- 
five years. This, he tells us, he "endeavoured to make both 
entertaining and useful, and it accordingly came to be in such 
demand, that I reaped considerable profit from it ; vending 
annually near ten thousand." ^ It was announced in the Penn- 
sylvania Gazette of 19 December, 1732, and such was the eager- 



*Bigelow, i. 170 

^ It was in the latter' s letter to Henry Bell of Lancaster of 17 November, 1754, 
we find him saying: "As you well know I was one of the originators of the first 
Masonic Lodge in Philadelphia. A party of us used to meet at the Tree Tavern in 
Water Street, and sometimes opened a Lodge there. Once, in the fall of 1750, we 
formed a design of obtaining a Charter for a regular Lodge, and made application to 
the Grand Lodge of England for one, but before receiving it, we heard that Daniel 
Coxe, of New Jersey, had been appointed by that Grand Lodge as Provincial Master 
of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. We, therefore, made application to 
him, and our request was granted : " vide The Keystone, 15 October, 1887. 

*Bigelow, i. 192 



22 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

ness with which it was sought that three editions were printed 
before the end of January. 

But his prosperous business did not keep pace with his in- 
satiate desire for knowledge, and to open new channels he " had 
begun," he says, 

in 1732 to study languages ; I soon made myself so much a master of the 
French, as to be able to read the books with ease. I then undertook the 
Italian. An acquaintance, who was also learning it, us'd often to tempt 
me to play chess with him. Finding this took up too much of the time I 
had to spare for study, I at length refused to play any more unless on this 
condition, that the victor in every game should have a right to impose a 
task, either in parts of the grammar to be got by heart, or in translations, 
etc, which tasks the vanquish' d was to perform upon honour before our 
next meeting. As we play'd pretty equally, we thus beat one another into 
that language. I afterwards, with a little pains-taking, acquired as much 
of the Spanish as to read their books also. I have already mention' d that 
I had only one year's instruction in a Latin school, and that when very 
young, after which I neglected that language entirely. But, when I had 
attained an acquaintance with the French, Italian, and Spanish, I was sur- 
pris'd to find, in looking over a Latin Testament, that I understood so 
much more of that language than I had imagined, which encouraged me to 
apply myself again to the study of it, and I met with more success, as those 
preceding languages had greatly smooth' d my way.'' 

His ambition ever to learn was well sustained by his incom- 
parable energy and self-denial. 

' Bigelow, i. 198 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 23 



V 

In 1736 he sought entrance into public life, the better to 
further his favoring fortunes, and he was chosen clerk of the 
General Assembly in October of that year,^ " for which office 
he petitioned the House in succession to Joseph Growden." 
Governor Gordon had died in the summer, and James Logan as 
President of the Council became the head of the Provincial gov- 
ernment until the arrival of Governor Thomas two years later. 
This doubtless was the influence that secured what Franklin 
terms " my first promotion." He, as usual, makes no secret of 
the reasons for his wishing the office : 

besides the pay for the immediate service as clerk, the place gave me a 
better opportunity of keeping up an interest among the members, which 
secured to me the business of printing the votes, laws, paper money, and 
other occasional jobbs for the public, that, on the whole were very profitable. 

He was annually chosen to this office for fourteen years, 
and herein he trained himself for his later political life. It was 
but at thirty years of age this native of a northern province 
attained to this important position, and without contradiction ; 
but his second term was not reached without opposition, which 
arose 

from a new member in order to favor some other candidate. * * * He 
was a gentleman of fortune and education, with talents that were likely to 
give him in time great influence in the House which indeed afterwards 
happened. 

But Franklin won in the contest and later placated this 
member by one of those clever strokes of ingenuity which he 
often exercised successfully to divert enmities ; and when record- 
ing the story concludes by saying this "shows how much more 
profitable it is prudently to remove, than to resent, return, and 
continue inimical proceedings : he ever after manifested a readi- 
ness to serve me on all occasions, so that we became great friends, 
and our friendship continued to his death," ^ 

In October of the following year, 1737, he was appointed 



Bigelow, i. 201. Proud, ii. 215, note. - Bigelow, i. 202. 



24 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

postmaster by Colonel Spotswood, formerly governor of Vir- 
ginia and now postmaster general, succeeding his competitor in 
business, Andrew Bradford, who had been postmaster since 
1725 and who was now removed for reasons affecting his lack 
of care and exactness in framing and rendering his accounts. 
He tells us, 

I accepted it readily, and found it of great advantage ; for, though the 
salary was small, it facilitated the correspondence that improv'd my news- 
paper, increas'd the number demanded, as well as the advertisements to 
be inserted, so that it came to afford me a considerable income. But, [he 
adds,] my old competitor's newspaper declined proportionably, and I was 
satisfy' d without retahating his refusal, while postmaster, to permit my 
papers being carried by the riders. 

This appointment was unwelcome to Bradford and his 
friends and warmed into life animosities which bore fruit in later 
years. 

With these two public offices in hand, Franklin tells us,^ " I 
began now to turn my thoughts a little to public affairs, begin- 
ning however with small matters." The city watch was reformed 
by the suggestions he made and the measures he succeeded in 
consummating aided by the influence of his friends of the Junto. 
Fire prevention as well exercised his thoughts, and he wrote a 
paper, first read in the junto and afterwards published, 
on the different accidents and carelessnesses by which houses were set on 
fire. This gave rise to a project, which soon followed it, of forming a com- 
pany for the more ready extinguishing of fires, and mutual assistance in 
removing and securing of goods when in danger. Associates in this scheme 
were presently found, amounting to thirty. 

Such was the origin of the Union Fire Company, established 
7 December, 1736, the first fire company in Philadelphia.* 

The utility of this institution soon appeared, and many more desiring 
to be admitted than we thought convenient for one company, they were 
advised to form another, which was accordingly done ; and this went on, 
one new company being formed after another, till they became so numer- 
ous as to include most of the inhabitants who were men of property. 
The author of these practical reforms had not passed beyond 
his thirty-first year, yet he exhibited the skill and experience, 
and exerted the influence on his fellow citizens, of a man of three- 
score, 

'Bigelow, i. 203. ■'Ibid, i. 205 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 25 



VI 

At the close of the year 1739 there arrived in Philadelphia, 
on his way to his Parish and Orphanage at Savannah, the Rev. 
George Whitefield, a presbyter of the Church of England, the 
fame of whose extraordinary pulpit powers had preceded him, 
though he was a young man but twenty-four years of age.^ 
Two days after his arrival, on Sunday 4th November he preached 
in Christ Church, and read prayers there and preached daily for 
a week. Departing for New York on the 12th, where he was 
not allowed to preach in Trinity Church, though he attended 
both the Sunday services ; he returned to Philadelphia on the 
23d and departed thence on the 29th for the South, having 
preached daily in Christ Church, though on his return in the 
April following he was inhibited from holding any service or 
preaching there. Frankhn in common with every citizen was 
attracted by his eloquence, and he formed a friendship for the 
young divine, who was eight years his junior, which continued 
until his death, when he wrote to a friend " I knew him inti- 
mately upwards of thirty years. His integrity, disinterested- 
ness, and indefatigable zeal in prosecuting every good work, I 
have never seen equalled, and shall never see excelled." ^ 
Doubtless Franklin was present at that remarkable scene in 
Christ Church on Sunday the 25th November when his friend 
the Rev. Richard Peters stood up and controverted some of 
Whitefield's new doctrines, which the latter manfully answered, 
though his Journal records he " had been somewhat alarmed " 
at the disturbance which this public contradiction threatened. 
Before the month was out Whitefield gave Frankhn copies of 
his Journals and sermons with leave to print the same. Andrew 

1 He was ordained in Gloucester Cathedral 13 June 1736, and first preached on 
the Sunday following. " A complaint was made to the Bishop that fifteen persons 
had been driven mad by his sermon. The bishop only replied that he hoped the 
madness might not be forgotten before another Sunday. * * * * How his one 
sermon grew till he had preached eighteen thousand times, or ten times a week for 
four and thirty years, and fed multitudes beyond computation." Gledstone's Life 
and Travels of George Whitefield, M.A.^ p 36. London 187 1. 

^ Life of Rev George Whitefield, Tyerman. ii 628. London 1876. Life and 
Times of Benjamin Franklin, Parton, i. 626. 



26 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Bradford printed some sermons and letters, but those under- 
taken by Franklin were by authority ; in his journal of 28 
November he records, " One of the printers has told me he has 
taken above two hundred subscriptions for printing my Sermons 
and Journals," ^ Franklin says, " we had no religious connec- 
tion. He us'd, indeed, sometimes to pray for my conversion, 
but never had the satisfaction of believing that his prayers were 
heard. Ours was a mere civil friendship, sincere on both sides, 
and lasted to his death." '' 

As the extent of Whitefield's audiences forbad their accom- 
modation in any of the churches, and the inhibition by the Rec- 
tor preventing in 1740 and in his subsequent visits his use of 
Christ Church, which was then indeed but one half the size as 
we now know it, measures were taken to procure him a proper 
building for his preachings ; " it being found inconvenient to 
assemble in the open air," Franklin says^ 

subject to its inclemencies, the building of a house to meet in was 
no sooner proposed, and persons appointed to receive contributions, but 
sufficient sums were soon receiv'd to procure the ground, and erect the 
building, which was one hundred feet long and seventy broad, about the 
size of Westminster Hall, and the work was carried on with such spirit 
as to be finished in a much shorter time than could have been expected. 
Both house and ground were vested in trustees expressly for the use of any 
preacher of any religious persuasion, who might desire to say something 
to the people at Philadelphia. 

Franklin was foremost in the work as he was in any matter 
he undertook and contributed of his means to it, though he was 
not one of the Trustees until 1749 when the property came into 
the possession of the new born Academy. On Sunday, 9 
November, 1740, Whitefield records in his Journal, "Preached 
in the morning, to several thousands, in a house built since my 
last departure from Philadelphia. It was never preached in 
before. The roof is not yet up ; but the people raised a con- 
venient pulpit, and boarded the bottom." The oft told tale can 
bear repetition in this connection of the influence of White- 



^ Tyerraan, i. 337. 

* Bigelow, i. 209, also letter quoted by Dr Sprague from Rev Jotham Sewell, in 
Annals of Episcopal Pulpit, 107. ^ Bigelow, i. 206. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 27" 

field's oratory on Franklin himself. He attended in April, 1740, 
one of Whitefield's meetings where he preached of his Orphan- 
age, the location of which did not meet Franklin's approval, as® 
Georgia was then destitute of materials and workmen, and it was proposed 
to send them from Philadelphia at a great expense. I thought it would have 
been better to have built the house here, and brought the children to it. 
This I advis'd ; but he was resolute in his first project, rejected my counsel, 
and I, therefore, refus'd to contribute. I happened soon after to attend 
one of his sermons, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish 
with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. 
I had, in my pocket, a handful of copper money, three or four silver dol- 
lars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and 
concluded to give the coppers . Another stroke of his oratory made me 
asham'd of that, and determin'd me to give the silver ; and he finished 
so admirably, that I empty' d my pocket wholly into the collectors dish, 
gold and all. 



VII 

Franklin's trusteeship in this property in 1749 rendered the 
plan effectual then proposed of making the building the first 
home of his College and Academy ; but for this happy instru- 
mentality the young College would probably not for many years 
have had a home of its own so well adapted for its purposes. 
Built for the accommodation of the greatest preacher of the 
day, it became the Academy where the greatest teacher in the 
province, also a clergyman in like orders, established his fame as 
a Provost and nurtured into permanence the reputation of his 
College. In 1764 Whitefield himself wrote of the Academy as 
" one of the best regulated institutions in the world," after 
preaching on the opening of a new term of the College in Sep- 
tember.^ He was in Philadelphia the following spring, and Dr. 
Smith asked him to preach at the Commencement of 1765, but 

®Bigelow, i. 20S. ^Tyerman, ii. 477. 



28 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

he had been obliged to leave town a few days before for New 
York to embark thence for England." His last visit to Philadel- 
phia was in May, 1770, when he writes in his Journal, 24 May, 
"to all the Episcopal Churches, as well as to most of the 
other places of worship, I have free access;" and on 30 
September following he died in Newburyport, where lie his 
remains.^ 

The friendship between these two remarkable men was 
begun by some common attraction the one for the other and con- 
tinued through life unbroken, though their views on the deepest 
thoughts of humanity were so diverse. Such affinities are often 
witnessed, though the link is so subtle as to be undefinable. The 
one a Deist whose time was given to material things and his 
thoughts to the development of human knowledge, the other a 
warm believ^er in divine revelation and a burning preacher of the 
message which he claimed to have received ; yet there was 
somewhat between them of sympathy and of a mutual under- 
standing, which bound them to each other in a common respect 
and appreciation of each other's earnestness and reality. White- 
field's concern for his older friend manifested itself afterwards in 
many ways. He writes to him 26 November 1 740, on his way 
to Savannah after their first meeting in Philadelphia, about his 
publications, and could not conclude without saying "I do not 
despair of your seeing the reasonableness of Christianity. Apply 
to GOD ; be willing to do the divine will, and you shall know 
it." * And on 17 August, 1752, he writes him^ : 

I find that you grow more and more famous in the learned world. As 
you have made a pretty considerable progress in the mysteries of electricity, 
I would now humbly recommend to your diligent unprejudiced pursuit and 
study the mystery of the new birth. It is a most important, interesting 
study, and when mastered, will richly answer and repay you for all your 
pains. One hath solemnly declared, that without it, "we cannot enter 
the kingdom of heaven." You will excuse this freedom. I must have 



^ Pentta. Gazette. Tyerman, ii. 484. 

^ Tyerman, ii. 589. William White writes from Philadelphia 9 October, 
1770, to his friend James Wilson at Carlisle, " P. S. The bells are now ringing muf- 
fled for the Death of Mr. Whitefield ; he died in New England." MS. letter. 

* Ibid. i. 439. ^ Ibid. ii. 283. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 29 

aliquid Christi'va all my letters.^ I am a yet willing pilgrim for his great 
name sake, and I trust a blessing attends my poor feeble labours. 

He had already, more than two years before, written a letter 
to be referred to later on, upon the new Academy in which he 
held the same anxious language on behalf of his friend's plans 
for the education of youth. 

It was about nine years before his meeting with Whitefield 
that Franklin "put down from time to time such thoughts as 
occurred " to him on the subject of religion.'' 

That there is one God, who made all things. 

That he governs the world by his providence. 

That he ought to be worshipped by adoration, prayer and thanks- 
giving. 

But that the most acceptable service of God is doing good to man. 

That the soul is immortal. 

And that God will certainly reward virtue and punish vice, either 
here or hereafter. 

That portion of his Autobiography in which we find these 
lines recorded was written, he tells us, in 1788. It was but a 
twelvemonth before he thus took up his pen to renew his inter- 
esting personal narrative, that occurred that memorable appeal 
by him in the Convention for framing the Constitution for the 
use of daily prayers in the deliberations of an assembly upon 
whom rested the perpetuation of a solid government for the 
United States. " He seldom spoke in a deliberative assembly 
except for some special object, and then briefly and with great 
simplicity of manner and language." Sparks® tells us, on the 
occasion now referred to, he rose and said : 

In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible 
of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for the divine protection. 
Our prayers, Sir, were heard ; and they were graciously answered. All of 
us, who were engaged in the struggle, must have observed frequent 
instances of a superintending Providence in our favor. To that kind 
Providence we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the 



^ Two years previously Whitefield made the same allusion regarding the pro- 
posals for the new Academy, in writing to Franklin 26 February, 1750: "but, I 
think there wants aliqidd Christi in it, to make it as useful as I would desire it might 
be." Tyerman, ii. 251. 

' Bigelow, ii. 190. ^Sparks, i. 514- ' 



30 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now for- 
gotten that powerful Friend ? or do we imagine we no longer need his 
assistance ? I have lived, Sir, a long time ; and, the longer I live, the 
more convincing proofs I see of this truth, that God governs in the affairs 
of tnett. And, if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is 
it probable that an empire can rise without his aid ? We have been 
assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ' ' except the Lord build the house, 
they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this ; and I also believe, 
that, without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building 
no better than the builders of Babel ; we shall be divided by our little, 
partial, local interests, our projects will be unfounded, and we ourselves 
shall become a reproach and a by-word down to future ages. And, what 
is worse, mankind may hereafter, from this unfortunate instance, despair 
of establishing government by human wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, 
and conquest. I therefore beg leave to move, that henceforth prayers, 
imploring the assistance of Heaven and its blessing on our deliberations, 
be held in this assembly every morning before we proceed to business ; 
and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in 
that service. 

But his appeal was unavailing, and the motion was lost, "as 
the Convention, except three or four persons, thought prayers 
unnecessary." There was that in the man that would win the 
friendship and respect of even a Whitefield ; and one need won- 
der not at the exercise of this personal influence in all his inter- 
course with his fellow men. 

But domestic concerns led him to other ingenious thoughts, 
though for once he here halted, not however for lack of faith, 
but failure at the time of the proper instrument to mature his 
plans. His son William had reached the age of about twelve 
years when he "in 1743 drew up a proposal," he tells us,^ 
for establishing an academy; and at that time, thinking the Reverend Mr. 
Peters, who was out of employ, a fit person to superintend such an institu- 
tion, I communicated the project to him ; but he, having more profitable 
views in the service of the proprietaries which succeeded, declined the 
undertaking : and, not knowing another at that time suitable for such a 
trust, I let the scheme lie awhile dormant. 

Mr. Peters, of whom much will be said on later pages, was 
appointed on the 14 February of this year, Secretary of the 
Province and Clerk to the Council ; his intimate concern and 

^ Bigelow, i. 213. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 31 

interest in many of Franklin's enterprises, and his activities in 
furtherance of the College and Academy as finally framed and 
launched six years later, made him a conspicuous figure in the 
circle of which Franklin was the centre. 

This same year witnessed the suggestion by Franklin, in 
his paper dated 14 May, 1743, entitled A Proposal for Pro- 
moting Useful Knowledge among the British Plantations in 
America, of the American Philosophical Society, which seems 
to have very soon thereafter come into existence ; " Benjamin 
Franklin, the writer of this proposal, offers himself to serve the 
Society as their secretary, till they shall be provided with one 
more capable." On 5 April, 1744, he writes to Cadwalader 
Golden, "that the society, so far as it relates to Philadelphia, is 
actually formed, and has had several meetings to mutual satis- 
faction." ^° The vicissitudes of this society, whose vigour 
lessened during Franklin's long absences abroad, need only to 
be referred to here in connection with its reorganization in 
January, 1769, when Dr. Franklin was chosen President, although 
then absent in London, to which office he was annually elected 
until his death. 

In writing about his first proposal for an academy in 1743, 

he said," 

I had on the whole, abundant reason to be satisfied with my being 
■established in Pennsylvania. There were, however, two things that I 



1" Bigelow, ii. i. Duyckinck, i. 575. 

He continues : ' ' the members are 

Dr Thomas Bond, as Physician 

Mr John Bartram, as Botanist 

Mr Thomas Godfrey, as Mathematician 

Mr Samuel Rhoads, as Mechanician 

Mr William Parsons, as Geographer 

Dr Phineas Bond, as General Nat. Philosopher 

Mr Thomas Hopkinson, President 

Mr William Coleman, Treasurer 

B. F , Secretary, To whom the following members have since 

been added, viz : Mr Alexander, of New York ; Mr Morris, Chief Justice of the Jer- 
seys; Mr Home, Secretary of do; Mr John Coxe of Trenton; and Mr Martyn, of 
the same place. Mr Nicholls tells me of several other gentlemen of this city that 
incline to encourage the thing; and there are a number of others, in Virginia, Mary- 
land, and the New England colonies, we expect to join us as soon as they are 
acquainted that the Society has begun to form itself." 
11 Bigelow, i. 212. 



32 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

regretted, there being no provision for defence, nor for a compleat educa- 
tion of youth ; no militia, nor any college. 

His plans for education had been laid aside for the present, 
we have seen ; his plans for defence of his city against foreign 
invasion did not culminate for four years. Of them he writes, ^^ 

With respect to defense, Spain having been several years at war 
against Great Britain, and being at length join'd by France, which brought 
us into great danger ; and laboured and long continued endeavour of our 
governor, Thomas, to prevail with our Quaker Assembly to pass a militia 
law, and make other provisions for the security of the province, having 
proved abortive, I determined to try what might be done by a voluntary 
association of the people. To promote this, I first wrote and published 
a pamphlet, entitled. Plain Truth. * -x- * The pamphlet had a 
sudden and surprising effect. I was call' d upon for the instrument of 
association, and having settled the draft of it with a few friends, I appointed 
a meeting of the citizens in the large building before mentioned, [afterwards 
the first home of the University]. The house was pretty full ; 1 had pre- 
pared a number of printed copies, and provided pens and ink dispers'd 
all over the room. I harangued them a little on the subject, read the 
paper and explained it, and then distributed the copies, which were eagerly 
signed, not the least objection being made. When the company sepa- 
rated, and the papers were collected, we found above twelve hundred 
hands ; and other copies being dispersed in the country, the subscribers 
amounted at length to upwards of ten thousand. 

Thus was formed in November, 1747, the new militia, or 
Associators as they were called. The officers of the companies 
composing the Philadelphia regiment chose Franklin as their 
lieutenant colonel, ^^ " but, conceiving myself unfit, I declined 
that station," he writes, "and recommended Mr. Lawrence." 

By April following nearly one thousand associations were 
under arms, and , batteries were erected on the river front, the 
grand battery near the Swedes Church, on ground afterwards 
occupied by the United States Navy Yard, being named the 
Association Battery. But the news of the peace concluded at 
Aix la Chapelle in April reached Philadelphia on 24 August, 
1748, and their zeal and resolution had no trial of contest with 
the dreaded enemy. Franklin adds ^* 

It was thought by some of my friends, that, by my activity in these 

12 Bigelow, i. 213. ^^ ibj^j^ ;_ 214. 1* Ibid, i. 216. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 33 

affairs, I should offend the Quakers, and thereby lose my interest in the 
Assembly of the province, where they formed a great majority. * * * 
However, I was chosen again unanimously as clerk at the next election. 
Possibly, as theydislik'd my late intimacy with the members of Council, 
who had joined the governors in all the disputes about military prepara- 
tions, with which the House had long been harassed, they might have been 
pleas' d if I would voluntarily have left them ; but they did not care to dis- 
place me on account merely of my zeal for the Association, and they could 
not well give another reason. Indeed, I had some cause to believe, that 
the defense of the country was not disagreeable to any of them, provided 
they were not required to assist in it.^^ 

Thus far have been briefly stated the more notable actions 
in the first half of the life of the man who conceived the plan 
and laid the foundation of the institution of learning whose 
history is here attempted ; and to all those who claim it as their 
alma mater, it must be a matter of reasonable pride that its 
Father was a man whose rare genius, and strong mind, and 
whose diligent employment and nurture of the various facul- 
ties his Creator had endowed him with, have made the name of 
Benjamin Franklin of world wide note. Other institutions of 
like character have an earlier origin, some may have a wider 
reputation ; but none in our country can claim such paternity. 
It is well to review here in the outset his wonderful success in 
all practical matters ; his untiring occupation of every waking 
hour either in self improvement, or in seeking the improvement 
of others ; in advancing the welfare of his city, his province, and 
his country at large ; in probing the secrets of nature in wind 
or current, or in that more subtle force which we name elec- 
tricity whose present great development into practical uses 
brings afresh to mind the man who was among the first to make 
his fellows familiar with its wonders ; in promoting learning ; in 
disseminating useful kno^yledge in all the communities to which 
his influence reached ; in laboring for better municipal govern- 
ment ; in securing local betterments in street ways and lighting ; 
in arousing his fellow citizens to practical measures to secure 



^^ Richard Peters approvingly narrates this Association and names Franklin as 
the author of it in his letter to the Proprietaries, 29 November, 1747. Sparks, vii. 20. 
The plan had not at first commended itself to them, as savoring too much of inde- 
pendence in mihtary matters. 



34 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

their defence against the foreign foe ; in striving with the out- 
stretched olive branch to prevent the mother country forcing a 
rupture with her transatlantic children, and when disappointed 
in that, holding with his masterly diplomatic skill foreign nations 
to their pledged alliance with us ; and under all circumstances, 
in adversity as well as in prosperity, under bodily ailments as 
well as with full physical health, pursuing with calmness and an 
even tenor almost superhuman the paths of usefulness and duty 
which he made, or which were laid upon him by a constituency 
not always grateful, in private and public life equally faithful to 
the ends in view and the interests confided to him. Such a man 
it is well to hold up to the view of those who may in the coming 
years seek their learning on his foundations as an example of a 
manly and rightful ambition, of rare diligence and thrift, and of 
a true catholic spirit and abounding industry. He fulfilled the 
unconscious prediction of his worthy father, who commended to 
him the saying of the Wise Man, " Seest thou a man diligent in 
his business ? he shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand 
before mean men." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 35 

VIII. 

The birth of the university marks the half way point in 
Frankhn's life ; in the pursuit of its history we cannot fail to 
note his work from time to time in behalf of his native country, 
for we must watch the events by his share in which he was ele- 
vated more and more to public notoriety, and some of which 
nearly concerned the institution whose trusteeship he faithfully 
continued in to his last days, though his long absences in his 
country's service deprived it for many consecutive years of that 
prudent and skilful counsel, which, if exercised, had perhaps 
spared it from its great disaster of 1 779. 

The attempt of 1743 had not been forgotten by him, and 
though he had not within view any capable or experienced per- 
son to take it in charge, he sought counsel of his friends, Mr. 
Peters included, and now made public his designs. " Peace 
being concluded," ^ he says in his Narrative, 

and the association business therefore at an end, I turn'd my thoughts 
again to the affair of establishing an academy. The first step I 
took was to associate in the design a number of active friends, of whom 
the Junto furnished a good part ; the next was to write and publish a 
pamphlet, entitled, Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in Penn- 
sylvania. This I distributed among the principal inhabitants gratis; and 
as soon as I could suppose their minds a little prepared by the perusal of 
it, I set on foot a subscription for opening and supporting an academy. 

And he adds a sentence in his usual vein showing how 
little anxious he was to claim the authorship of the plan : 

In the introduction to these proposals, I started their pubHcation not 



^ Bigelow, 224, 25. These Proposals of 1749 are not found in Mr. Bigelow's 
Cofiiplete Works of Franklin. See Sparks, i. 569, where they are inserted with Mr. 
Spark's literary freedom ; but will be found herein correctly recorded in Appendix 
I, without however carrying the author's copious and many notes wherein he 
transcribed authorities endorsing his objects and his methods. Upon the appearance 
of Volumes i. and ii. of Mr. Bigelow's valuable work, his attention was called to the 
omission of the Proposals, and he replied, 23 April, 1887, "it will appear in one of 
the later volumes which is now in the hands of the printer Why it was assigned to 
a later date I do not remember, nor could I satisfy myself without reference to the 
copy, which at present would be inconvenient. It will serve your purpose, I hope, 
to know that it had not been overlooked." Doubtless the failure to obtain a copy of 
the original prevented this consummation. Of this rare publication but three copies 
are now known to be preserved, one of them, happily, is in the possession of the 
University, the Pennsylvania Historical Society and the Boston Athenseum owning 
the other two. 



36 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

as an act of mine, but of more piiblick spirited geiitleiiit'ti ; avoiding as 
much as I could, according to my usual rule, the presenting myself to the 
public as the author of any scheme for their benefit. 

We can name the time of the issue of this remarkable 
paper by his advertisement already quoted. 

His first section of the Proposals opens with the well 
known axiom that " the good education of youth has been 
esteemed by wise men in all ages, as the surest foundation of 
the happiness of both private families and commonwealths," and 
proceeds to state the further fact that " almost all governments 
have therefore made it a principal object of their attention, to 
establish and endow with proper revenues such seminaries of 
learning, as might supply the succeeding age with men qualified 
to serve the public with honor to themselves and to their 
country." 

The present necessity lying on the colonists to restore and 
maintain a "good education" is well stated in the next section. 
" Many of the first settlers of these provinces were men who 
had received a good education in Europe ; and to their wisdom 
and good management we owe much of our present prosperity. 
But their hands were full, and they could not do all things. 
The present race are not thought to be generally of equal ability: 
for, though the American youth are allowed not to want capacity, 
yet the best capacities require cultivation ; it being truly with 
them, as with the best ground, which, unless well tilled and 
sowed with profitable seed, produces only ranker weeds." He 
then proceeds; "that we may obtain the advantages arising 
from an increase of knowledge, and prevent, as much as may 
be, the mischievous consequences that would attend a general 
ignorance among us, the following hints are offered towards 
forming a plan for the education of the youth of Pennsylvania." 

The entire text of the paper will be found elsewhere, but 
there are some propositions it submits which call for especial 
note as they are as fruitful in suggestions now as then. One of 
the first points to a paternal management, giving this preference 
over the scholastic : 

That the members of the corporation make it their pleasure, and in 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 37 

some degree their business, to visit the Academy often, encourage and 
countenance the youth, countenance and assist the masters, and by all 
nieans in their power advance the usefulness and reputation of the design ; 
that they look on the students as in some sort their children, treat them 
with familiarity and affection, and, when they have behaved well, and gone 
through their studies, and are to enter the world, zealously unite, and make 
all the interest that can be made to establish them, whether in business, 
offices, marriages, or any other thing for their advantage, preferably to all 
other persons whatsoever, even of equal merit. 

The next is a proper habitation : 

That a house be provided for the Academy, if not in the town, not 
many miles from it ; the situation high and dry, and, if it may be, not far 
from a river, having a garden, orchard, meadow, and afield or two. [And,] 
that the house be furnished with a library if in the country, (if in the town, 
the town libraries may serve.) ^ 

And further, 

that the Rector be a man of good understanding, good morals, diligent 
and patient, learned in the languages and sciences, and a correct, pure 
speaker and writer of the English tongue. 

As to the students, 
it would be well if they could be taught everything that is useful, and 
everything that is ornamental. But art is long, and their time is short' 
It is therefore proposed, that they learn those things that are likely to be 
the most useful and most ornamental ; regard being had to the several pro- 
fessions for which they are intended. * ->s- * Reading should also be 
taught, and pronouncing properly, distinctly, emphatically ; not with an 
even tone, which ufider-does, nor a theatrical, which over-does nature. To 
form their style, they should be put in writing letters to each other, making 

^ Upon the site of a College we have Antony a Woods loving reference to 
Oxford : " First a good and pleasant site, where there is a wholesome and temperate 
constitution of the air ; composed with waters, springs or wells, woods and pleasant 
fields ; which being obtained, those commodities are enough to invite students to 
stay and abide there. As the Athenians in ancient times were happy for their conve- 
niences, so also were the Britons, when by a remnant of die Grecians that came 
amongst them, they or their successors selected such a place in Britain to plant a 
school or schools therein, which for its pleasant situation was afterwards called liello- 
situm or Belosite now Oxford, privileged with all those conveniences before men- 
tioned." Quoted by John Henry Newman in his Office and Work of Universities, 
London, 1856, p. 40. In a previous page Cardinal Newman had said, " If I were 
asked to describe as briefly and popularly as I could what a University was, I should 
draw my answer from its ancient designation of a Studiam Generale, or school of 
Universal Learning * * * a school of knowledge of every kind, consisting of 
teachers and learners from every quarter * * * a place for the communication 
and circulation of thought by means of personal intercourse through a wide extent of 
country," p. 9. 

^ Ars longa, vita brevis. Hippocrates, AphorisJU. 



38 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

abstracts of what they read, or writing the same things in their own words ; 
telling or writing stories lately read, in their own expressions. 

Here we are reminded of Franklin's own early experiments 
in composition ; when a lad of but thirteen or fourteen years 
reading the Spectator made him ambitious to excel in style. ^ And 
with the view, if possible, of imitating it, his narrative tells us 

I took some of the papers, and making short hints of the sentiment 
in each sentence, laid them by a few days, and then, without looking at 
the book, try'd to compleat the papers again, by expressing each hinted 
sentiment at length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any 
suitable words that should occur to me. Then I compared my Spectator 
with the original, discovered some of my faults, and corrected them. But 
I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and 
using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I 
had gone on making verses ; since the continual occasion for words of the 
same import, but of different length to suit the measure, or of different 
sound for the rhyme, would have laid me under a constant necessity of 
searching for variety, and also have tended to fix that variety in my mind, 
and make me master of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned 
them into verse ; and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the 
prose, turned them back again . * * ■'^ By comparing my work after- 
wards with the original, I discovered my faults, and amended them ; but I 
sometimes had the pleasure of fancying that, in certain particulars of small 
import, 1 had been lucky enough to improve the method or the language, 
and this encouraged me to think, that I might possibly in time come to be 
a tolerable English writer ; of which I was extremely ambitious. 

Franklin became more than a tolerable English writer, and 
he remained to his latest years a master in the art ; and the 
foundation of this was laid in the strenuous efforts of his boy- 
hood for success, the memory of which must have been in 
his mind even when he was writing his Proposals, to which after 
this digression we must turn again. 

He recurs to History, as embracing Geography, Chronol- 
ogy, Ancient Customs, Morals, Politics, and Oratory : 

History will also give occasion to expatiate on the advantage of civil 
orders and constitutions ; how men and their properties are protected by 
joining in societies and establishing government ; their industry encour- 
aged and rewarded, arts invented, and life made more comfortable ; the 

* Bigelow, i. 48. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 39 

advantages of liberty, mischiefs of licentiousness, benefits arising from 
good laws and a due execution of justice, &c. Thus may the first princi- 
ples of sound politics be fixed in the minds of youth. On historical occa- 
sions, questions of right and wrong, justice and injustice, will naturally 
arise, and may be put to youth, which they may debate in conversation 
and in writing. * * * Public disputes warm the imagination, whet 
the industry, and strengthen the natural abilities. 

And of the ancient languages, hear how the master in 
English writes : 

When youth are told, that the great men, whose lives and actions 
they read in history, spoke two of the best languages that ever were, the 
most expressive, copious, beautiful ; and that the finest writings, the most 
correct compositions, the most perfect productions of human wit and wis- 
dom, are in those languages, which have endured for ages, and will endure 
while there are men; that no translation can do them justice, or give the 
pleasure found in reading the originals ; that those languages contain all 
science; that one of them is become almost universal, being the language 
of learned men in all countries ; that to understand them is a distinguish- 
ing ornament ; &c., &c., they may be thereby made desirous of learning 
those languages, and their industry sharpened in the acquisition of them. 
All intended for divinity, should be taught the Latin and Greek ; for physic, 
the Latin, Greek, and French; for law, the Latin and French ; merchants, 
the French, German, and Spanish; and, though all should not be com- 
pelled to learn Latin, Greek, or the modern foreign languages, yet none 
that have an ardent desire to learn them should be refused; their English, 
arithmetic and other studies absolutely necessary, being at the same time 
not neglected. * ^ * With the history of men, times, and nations, 
should be read at proper hours or days, some of the best histories of nature, 
which would not only be delightful to youth, and furnish them with matter 
for their letters, &c., as well as other history; but afterwards of great use 
to them, whether they are merchants, handicrafts, or divines ; enabling 
the first the better to understand many commodities, drugs, &c., the second 
to improve his trade in handicraft by new mixtures, materials, &c., and 
the last to adorn his discourses by beautiful comparisons, and strengthen 
them by new proofs of divine providence. The conversation of all will be 
improved by it, as occasions frequently occur of making natural observa- 
tions, which are instructive, agreeable, and entertaining in almost all com- 
panies. * * * While they are reading natural history, might not a 
little gardening, planting, grafting, inoculating, &c., be taught and prac- 
tised; and now and then excursions made to the neighboring plantations of 
the best farmers, their methods observed and reasoned upon for the infor- 
mation of youth. * -» * The history of commerce, of the invention 



40 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

of arts, rise of manufactures, progress of trade, change of its seats, with 
the reasons, causes, &c. , may also be made entertaining to youth, and will 
be useful to all. 

And the concluding lines enforce yet higher aims : 

With the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated that 
benignity of mind, which shows itself in searching for and seizing every 
opportunity to serve and to oblige ; and is the foundation of what is called 
good breeding ; highly useful to the possessor, and most agreeable to all. 
The idea of what is true merit should also be often presented to youth, 
explained and impressed on their minds, as consisting in an inclination, 
joined with an ability, to serve mankind, one's country, friends, and 
family; which ability is, (with the blessing of God), to be acquired or 
greatly increased by true learning ; and should, indeed, be the great aim 
and end of all learning. 



IX. 

Before considering the result of the publication of these 
Proposals in the community, we may well take some note of the 
educational facilities of the city at this period, the imperfections 
of which led Franklin and his associates to formulate something 
on a higher plane and to establish a more enduring system. 
Before the advent of William Penn's colonists, the schooling of 
the young Swedes and Dutch was of a very simple character ; 
the systems which the first emigrants had the advantage of at 
home they seemed to have but little will and less opportunity to 
enforce on the banks of the Delaware. Their faithful clergy 
could carry on the elementary branches among the younger 
members of their flock, but their pastoral duties must take pre- 
cedence. The advent of the Friends brought back more 
energy and more learning into the province, and the diligence 
and thrift they displayed in all matters were equally felt in their 
care of the younger generation. Gabriel Thomas, in his His- 
torical Description of the Province of Pennsylvania, including an 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 41 

account of the City of Philadelphia, written in 1697, records, 
" In the said city are several good schools of learning for youth, 
in order to the attainment of arts and sciences, as also reading, 
writing, &c." It may be without design that his following sen- 
tence has it that " here is to be had, on any day in the week, 
tarts, pies, cakes, &c.," as his thoughts naturally would turn to 
the latter upon the consideration of children's schools and their 
lunches. And later he says, "the christian children born here 
are generally well favored, and beautiful to behold ;" and *' of 
lawyers and physicans I shall say nothing, because this country is 
very peaceable and healthy;" also "jealousy among men is 
here very rare, nor are old maids to be met with ; for all com- 
monly marry before they are twenty years of age." 

The earliest Friends' school of which we find mention is in 
the minutes of a Council held 26 December, 1683, at which 
William Penn was present, when 

having taken into their serious consideration the great necessity there is 
of a School Master for the instruction and sober education of youth in 
the town of Philadelphia, sent for Enoch Flower, an inhabitant of the 
said town, who for twenty years past hath been exercised in that care and 
imployment in England, to whom having communciated their minds, he 
embraced it upon certain terms, [but this only included the rudiments of 
an ordinary English education] ; for boarding a scholar, that is to say, 
diet, washing, lodging, and schooling, Ten pounds for one whole year 
[But at a council held on the 17 January following,] it was proposed, that 
care be taken about the learning and instruction of youth, to wit : a school 
of arts and sciences. 

Following these efforts came in 1689 the Friends " Publick 
School, founded by Charter in ye town and County of Philadel- 
phia in Pensilvania," under William Penn's Charters of 1701, 
1708, and 171 1, which confirmed the charter of 1697, granted 
by William Markham, Lieutenant Governor, and which we 
know to this day as the Penn Charter School, whose reputation 
in efficiency and success in imparting a good and true education 
make it rank with the best schools in the land. Its first teacher 
was a native of Aberdeen, and a graduate of the University of 
his native city, of which the first Provost of the College 
.and Academy of Philadelphia had been a matriculate. 



42 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

George Keith and William Smith both have left their 
mark in the annals of Philadelphia ; but the former 
made for himself a stormy life and for his old associates 
here much contention. George Keith was born in 1638, 
and at the University was a student while Gilbert Burnet, 
Bishop of Salisbury and five years his junior, was there ; he was 
originally a member of the Scotch Kirk, but afterwards em- 
braced the doctrines of the Friends of which he became a bold 
and shining advocate, " and who by his remarkable diligence 
and industry in all parts of his ministerial office, rendered him- 
self beloved 'of them all, especially the more inferior sort of 
people."^ In 1682 he came to America; in 1687 as Surveyor 
he was employed on the boundary line between East and West 
Jersey, and in 1689 came to Philadelphia to take charge of the 
new Public School. In less than two years time dissensions 
arose from his assuming conduct ; Proud ^ describes him " to 
be of a brittle temper, and over-bearing disposition of mind. 
* * * His great confidence in his own superior abilities 
seems to have been one, if not the chief, introductory cause of 
this unhappy dispute." Doubtless his confidence in Friends 
views was slackening, and his adherence to their peculiar ways 
was weakening, unknown to himself at first, and his strong will 
let loose became impatient at the Society's restraints. However 
this may be, he was disowned by them on 20 June, 1692. He,, 
and those who clung to him, called themselves Christian 
Quakers, and the others Apostates, and appealed to the Lon- 
don Yearly Meeting, but without avail, although he crossed the 
ocean to champion his own cause. Eventually he sought mem- 
bership in the Church of England, and was ordained to her 
ministry in May, 1700. He was sent out to the colonies as a 
Missionary of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, 
where his zeal against the Friends equalled in force the zeal he 
had displayed on their behalf twenty years before. He re- 
turned to England, and died in his living of Edburton in 17 16, 



1 Gerard Croese, quoted in Collections P. E. Historical Society, 1837, p. xi. 

2 History of Pennsylvania, i. 363. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 43 

Bishop Burnet said of his college mate^ " he was esteemed the 
most learned man that ever was in that Sect ; he was well 
versed both in the Oriental tongues, in Philosophy and Mathe- 
matics." Dr. Wickersham says " his success was not great " at 
the school, and his disappointment may have opened the door 
for his restlessness in the Society. 

He was succeeded by his usher, Thomas Makin, who con- 
tinued in charge for many years. Franklin, in the Pennsylvania 
Gazette of 29 November, 1733, announces his death by drown- 
ing, and speaks of him " as an ancient man, and formerly lived 
very well in this city, teaching a considerable school." His 
Descriptlo Pennsylvanice, anno 1729, Proud gives us and also 
favors us with an EngHsh version. He refers to the Publick 
School thus : 

Hie in gymnafiis linguce docentur & artes 

Ingenuce ; multis doctor & ipse fui. 
Una Schola hie alias etiam superemivet omnes 

Romano & Groeco quse doeet ore loqui. 

The charter of 1701 placed the management of this school 
in the Monthly Meeting. That of 1708 took this from the 
Meeting and gave it to " fifteen discreet and rehgious persons of 
the people called Quakers" as a Board of Overseers. James 
Logan and Issac Norris were overseers when becoming Trustees 
of the College and Academy, but their acceptance of this trust 
in 1749 was deemed by the Friends inconsistent with their 
duties as Overseers of the Publick School. The opening of the 
new College and Academy by a form of divine service and a set 
sermon probably disqualified Friends from serving in its behalf, 
or at least made their presence in its counsels not in accord Avith 
the Society's testimony. James Logan attended for the only 
time a meeting of the Trustees of the Academy on 26 Decem- 
ber, 1749. He had been from the outset an Overseer of the 
Publick School, the minutes of which show him to have been 



^ "One George Keith, a Scotchman with whom I had my first education at 
Aberdeen ; he had been thirty six years among them ; -» * * after he had been 
about thirty years in high esteem among them he was sent to Pensilvania (a colony 
set up by Pen where they are very numerous) to have the chief direction of the 
education of their youth." History of My Own Times, ii. 248, 9. 



44 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

an infrequent attendant at their meetings, indeed he had not 
been at any for nine years. His meeting with the Academy 
Trustees could not be overlooked, and on 21 February, 175 i, 
the Overseers recorded a Minute, namely, " inasmuch as James 
Logan hath been for some time past by several Fitts of the Palsy 
rendered quite incapable of any further service as an over- 
seer, without any prospect of his recovery and as he some time 
before his being so indispos'd express'd his declining the Trust, 
as he could not give his attendance, it is therefore concluded to 
choose another in his place." On James Logan's death only a 
few months following, the vacancy in the Academy Board was 
supplied by electing his son-in-law, Isaac Norris, on 12 Novem- 
ber, 175 I. He likewise was an Oversee.!', succeeding his Father 
in the Board, but his attendance there was as rare as Logan's : 
and the Overseers at a meeting on 30 March, 1752 gave it as 
their sense that 

Isaac Norris having for several years past neglected attending the meetings 
of this Board and having lately accepted of the Trusteeship of the Acade- 
my it is the opinion of this Board that it is necessary to enquire whether 
he still inclines to continue a member of this Corporation and if he does 
to acquaint him, that it is expected and desired by us that he should dem- 
onstrate his concern for promoting the Institution by attending of our 
meetings, and Joshua Comly and Samuel Preston Moore having at a 
former meeting undertaken to converse with him on this subject, the latter 
of them is now reminded of it and desired to take an opportunity of doing 
it before our next meeting. 

The only time Isaac Norris attended a meeting of the Academy 
Trustees was on 11 August following, when "the Trustees 
visited the Latin School and did no other Business." He re- 
signed this Trusteeship on 17 March, 1755, owing to his resi- 
dence out of town and to his ailments ; in the meanwhile the 
Friends dealt tenderly with him for his neglect of his Overseer- 
ship. And it is not until 6 March, 1756, that we find this dis- 
posing Minute : 

Isaac Norris by the committee appointed to wait on him informed the 
Board of the satisfaction this account of the present state of the schools 
affords him, and of his inclinations to promote the service of it which he is 
willing to manifest by any assistance he can give the master and occasion- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 45 

ally visiting the school and examining the scholars, but that as he is often 
indisposed and lives out of town he cannot duly attend the meetings of the 
Board and therefore desires to resign his Trust and that the Board would 
chose another Overseer in his place. 

The principal school building of the Overseers was on the 
East side of Fourth Street south of Chestnut, to this were 
added certain charity schools in different sections of the city. 
The usefulness of the Penn Charter School is greatly enlarged 
to day by their increased means derived from the modern im- 
provements of their Fourth Street property. Nothing can be 
added here on the subject of early educational labors in our city 
to Dr. Wickersham's History of Education in Pennsylvafiia, 
which is a storehouse of information and an interesting record of 
the efforts of our forefathers to secure efficient training to the 
coming generations. There were other schools, of moderate 
influence; Christ Church had its school building before 1709 
where a plain education was furnished at moderate or at no 
cost ; and some of the other churches labored in the same direc- 
tion. But the Penn Charter School maintained the lead ; yet it 
could not have filled all the needs of the growing community, 
otherwise in 1749 Franklin's efforts for a school of broader 
scope and higher aims could not so speedily have been organ- 
ized, and the aid secured by him of the leading Quaker citizens 
in the town to further the project With all Franklin's friend- 
ship with the Friends, he realised the importance of establishing 
a school on a more catholic basis, in whose management all 
classes and all churches could have a reasonable representation. 
The faithful performance by the Overseers of the simple require- 
ments of their charter was all that could be asked of them, and 
to this they were true ; but his foresight of the needs of the 
future showed him plainly that no time now should be lost in 
laying the foundations of something larger and more elastic. 
Harvard and Yale he had heard of and known in his earhest 
days; and the young college at Princeton had already graduated 
a Stockton and a Burnet, and among its matriculants were a 
Frelinghuysen, a McClintock, a Scudder, and a Livermore. 



46 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

X. 

Such was the spirit and effect of FrankHn's Proposals, and 
the zeal and personal influence of its author, that the plan 
reached consummation within a few weeks time. He tells us, 
"the subscribers, to carry the project into immediate execution, 
chose out of their number twenty-four trustees, and appointed 
Mr. Francis, then Attorney General, and myself, to draw up 
constitutions for the government of the academy." ^ These con- 
stitutions are worthy of entire perusal, as they embody a widely 
useful plan of education, and an admirable system of govern- 
ment. From their style in parts, we find good reason to think 
that Franklin's ideas were committed to the Attorney General 
for a fitting phraseology, but we miss the terseness and lucidity 
of expression, though recognizing here and there his interline- 
ations, as for instance, where in the first section the " English 
tongue is to be taught grammatically " we see Franklin adding 
the words " and as a language," by which he would emphasize 
his sense of the importance of keeping our Mother tongue 
foremost in the aims of the institution. Later on it will be seen 
how tenacious he was of this when other influences appeared to 
be making what he called the dead languages the principal aim 
in the curriculum. 

CONSTITUTIONS 

OF THE 

PUBLICK ACADEMY 

IN THE 

CITY OF PHILADELPHIA. 

As nothing can more effectually contribute to the Cultivation and 
Improvement of a Country, the Wisdom, Riches and Strength, Virtue and 
Piety, the Welfare and Happiness of a People, than a proper Education 
of Youth, by forming their Manners, imbuing their tender Minds with 
Principles of Rectitude and Morality, instructing them in the dead and 
living Languages, particularly their Mother Tongue, and all useful Branches 
of liberal Arts and Science. For attaining these great and important 
Advantages, so far as the present State of our Infant Country will admit, 

' Bigelow, i. 225. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 47 

and laying a Foundation for Posterity to erect a Seminary of Learning more 
extensive and suitable to their future Circumstances ; An Academy for 
teaching the Latin and Greek Languages, the English Toftgue grammati- 
cally, and as a Language, the most useful living foreign Languages, French, 
German, and Spanish : As matters of Erudition naturally flovi^ing from the 
Languages, History, Geography, Chronology, Logick and Rhetoric k ; 
Writing, Arithnietick ; the several Branches of the Matheniaticks ; 
Natural and Mechanic Philosophy ; Drawing in Perspective ; and every 
other Part of Useful Learning and Knowledge, shall be set up, maintained 
and have Continuance within the City of Philadelphia, in manner follow- 
ing. Twenty-four Persons, To wit, James Logan, Thomas Lawrence, 
William Allen, Johfi Iftglis, Tench Francis, William Masters, Lloyd 
Zachary, Samuel McCall, junior, Joseph Turner, Benjamin Franklin, 
Thojnas Leech, William Shippeti, Robert Strettell, Philip Syng, diaries 
Willing, Phineas Bond, Richard Peters, Abraham Taylor, Thotnas Bond, 
Thomas Hopkinson, William Plumstead, Joshua Maddox, Thomas White, 
and William Coleman, of the City of Philadelphia, shall be Trustees to 
begin and carry into Execution this good and pious Undertaking, who 
shall not for any Services by them as Trustees performed, claim or receive 
any Reward or Compensation ; which number shall always be continued, 
but never exceeded, upon any Motive whatever. 

When any Trustee shall remove his Habitation far from the City of 
Philadelphia, reside beyond Sea, or die, the remaining Trustees shall with 
all convenient speed, proceed to elect another, residing in or near the 
City, to fill the Place of the absenting or deceased Person. 

The Trustees shall have general Conventions once in every Month, 
and may, on special Occasions, meet at other Times on Notice, at some 
convenient Place, within the City of Philadelphia, to transact the Business 
incumbent on them ; and shall, in the Gazette, advertize the Time and 
Place of their general Conventions. 

Nothing shall be transacted by the Trustees, or under their Author- 
ity, alone, unless the same be voted by a Majority of their whole Number, 
if at a general Convention ; and if at a special Meeting, by a like Majority, 
upon personal Notice given to each Trustee, at least one Day before, to 
attend. 

The Trustees shall at their first Meeting elect a President for One 
Year, whose particular Duty it shall be, when present, to regulate their 
Debates, and state the proper Questions arising from them, and to order 
Notices to be given of the Times and Places of their special Conventions. 
And the like Election shall be annually made, at their first Meeting, after 
the Expiration of each Year. 

The Trustees shall annually choose one of their own Members for a 
Treasurer, who shall receive all Donations, and Money due to them, and 



48 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

disburse and lay out the same, according to their Orders ; and at the end 
of each Year, pay the Sum remaining in his Hands to his Successor. 

All Contracts and Assurances for Payment of Money to them, shall 
be made in the name of the Treasurer for the Time being, and declared to 
be in Trust for the Use of the Trustees. 

The Trustees may appoint a Clerk, whose Duty in particular it shall 
be, to attend them in their general and special Conventions, to give Notice 
in Writing to the Members, of the Time, Place and Design of any special 
Meetings ; to register all their Proceedings, and extract a State of their 
Accounts annually, to be published in the Gazette ; for which they may 
pay him such Salary as they shall think reasonable. 

The Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, after signing these 
Constitutions, contract with any Person that offers, who they shall judge 
most capable, of teaching the Latin and Greek Languages, History, Geog- 
raphy, Chronology and Rhetorick ; having great Regard at the same Time 
to his Polite Speaking^ Writing, and Understanding the English Tongue ; 
which Person shall in Fact be, and shall be stiled, the Rector of the 
Academy. 

The Trustees may contract with the Rector for the Term of Five 
Years, or less, at their Discretion, for the Sum of Two Hinidred Pounds a 
Year. 

The Rector shall be obliged, without the Assistance of any Tutor, to 
teach twenty scholars, the Latiti and Greek Languages, and at the same 
Time, according to the best of his Capacity, to instruct them in History, 
Geography, Chronology, Logick, Rhetorick, and the English Tongtie ; and 
Twenty-five Scholars more for every Usher provided for him, who shall be 
entirely subject to his Direction. 

The Rector shall upon all Occasions, consistent with his Duty in the 
Latin School, assist the English Master, in improving the Youth under his 
Care, and superintend the Instruction of all the Scholars in the other 
Branches of Learning, taught within the Academy and see that the Masters 
in each Art and Science perform their Duties. 

The Trustees shall, with all convenient Speed, contract with any 
Person that offers, who they shall judge most capable, of teaching the 
English Tongue grammatically, and as a Language, Histoty, Geography, 
Chronology, Logick and Oratory ; which Person shall be stiled the English 
Master. 

The Trustees may contract with the English Master for the Term of 
Five Years, or less, at their Discretion, for the Sum of One Hundred 
Pounds a Year. 

The English Master shall be obliged, without the Assistance of any 
Tutor, to teach Forty Scholars the English Totigue grammatically, 
and as a Language ; and at the same Time, according to the best of his 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 49 

Capacity, to instruct them in History, Geography, Chronology, Logick, and 
Oratory ; and Sixty Scholars more for every Tutor provided for him. 

The Tutors for the Latin and Greek School, shall be admitted, and 
at Pleasure removed, by the Trustees and the Rector, or a majority of 
them. 

The Tutors for the English School, shall be admitted, and at Pleas- 
ure removed, by the Trustees and the English Master, or a majority of them. 

The Trustees shall contract with each Tutor, to pay him what they 
shall judge proportionable to his Capacity and Merit. 

Neither the Rector, nor English Master shall be removed, unless 
disabled by sickness, or other natural Infirmity, or for gross voluntary 
Neglect of Duty, continued after two Admonitions from the Trustees, or 
for committing infamous Crimes ; and such Removal be voted by three 
Fourths of the Trustees ; after which their Salaries respectively shall cease. 

The Trustees shall, with all convenient speed, endeavour to engage 
Persons capable of teaching the French, Spanish, and German Languages, 
Writitig, AritJunetick, the several Branches of the Mathematicks, Natural 
and Mechanic Philosophy, and Drawing ; who shall give their Attendance, 
as soon as a sufficient Number of Scholars shall offer to be instructed in 
those Parts of Learning ; and be paid such Salaries and Rewards, as the 
Trustees shall from Time to Time be able to allow. 

Each Scholar shall pay such Sum or Sums, quarterly, according to 
the particular Branches of Learning they shall desire to be taught, as the 
Trustees shall from Time to Time settle and appoint. 

No Scholar shall be admitted, or taught within the Academy, without 
the Consent of the major Part of the Trustees in Writing, signed with their 
Names. 

In Case of the Disability of the Rector, or any Master established on 
the Foundation, by receiving a certain Salary, through sickness, or any 
other natural Infirmity, whereby he may be reduced to Poverty, the Trus- 
tees shall have Power to contribute to his Support, in Proportion to his 
Distress and Merit, and the Stock in their Hands. 

For the Security of the Trustees, in contracting with the Rector, 
Masters and Tutors ; to enable them to provide and fit up Convenient 
Schools ; furnish them with Books of general Use, that may be too expen- 
sive for each Scholar ; Maps, Draughts, and other Things, generally neces- 
sary, for the Improvement of the Youth ; and to bear the incumbent 
Charges that will unavoidably attend this Undertaking, especially in the 
Beginning ; the Donations of all Persons inchned to encourage it, are to 
be chearfuUy and thankfully accepted. 

The Academy shall be open'd with all convenient speed, by Accept- 
ing the first good Master that offers, either for teaching the Latin and 
Greek ; or English, under the Terms above proposed. 



50 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

All Rules for the Attendance and Duty of the Masters, the Conduct 
of the Youth, and the facilitating their Progress in Learning and Virtue, 
shall be framed by the Masters, in Conjunction with the Trustees. 

If the Scholars shall hereafter grow very numerous, and the Funds 
be sufficient, the Trustees may at their Discretion augment the Salaries of 
the Rector or Masters. 

The Trustees, to increase their Stock, may let their Money out at 
Interest. 

In general, the Trustees shall have Power to dispose of all Money 
received by them, as they shall think best for the Advantage, Promotion, 
and even Enlargement of this design. 

The Trustees may hereafter add to or change any of these Constitu- 
tions ; except that hereby declared to be invariable. 

All Trustees, Rectors, Masters, Tutors, Clerks, and other Ministers, 
hereafter to be elected or appointed, for carrying this Undertaking into 
Execution, shall, before they be admitted to the Exercise of their respective 
Trusts or Duties, sign these Cojtstitutiofis, or some others to be hereafter 
framed by the Trustees in their stead, in Testimony of their then approving 
of, and resolving to observe them. 

Upon the Death or Absence as aforesaid of any Trustee, the remain- 
ing Trustees shall not have Authority to exercise any of the Powers reposed 
in them, until they have chosen a new Trustee in his Place, and such new 
Trustee shall have signed the established Constitittions ; which if he shall 
refuse to do, they shall proceed to elect another, and so toties quoties, until 
the Person elected shall sign the Constitutions. 

When the Fund is sufficient to bear the charge, which it is hoped 
thro' the Bounty and Charity of well disposed Persons, will soon come to 
pass, poor children shall be admitted, and taught gratis, what shall be 
thought suitable to their capacities and circumstances. 

It is hoped and expected, that the Trustees will make it their Pleas- 
ure, and in some Degree their Business, to visit the Academy often, to 
encourage and countenance the Youth, countenance and assist the Masters, 
and, by all Means in their Power, advance the Usefulness and Reputation 
of the Design ; that they will look on the Students as, in some Measure, 
their own Children, treat them with Familiarity and Affection; and when 
they have behaved well, gone thro' their Studies, and are to enter the 
World, they shall zealously unite, and make all the Interest that can be 
made, to promote and establish them, whether in Business, Offices, Mar- 
riages, or any other Thing for their Advantage, preferable to all other 
Persons whatsoever, even of equal merit. 

The Trustees shall in a Body visit the Academy once a year extraor- 
dinary, to view and hear the Performances and Lectures of the Scholars, 
in such Modes, as their respective Masters shall think proper, and shall 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 51 

have Power, out of their Stock, to make Presents to the most meritorious 
Scholars, according to their several Deserts. 

The fourtee7ith Day of November, in the Year of our Lord, One 
Thousand Seven Hundred and Forty-nine ; 

FOR the Encouragement of this useful, good and charitable Under- 
taking, to enable the Trustees and their Successors to begin, promote, con- 
tinue and enlarge the same, humbly hoping, thro' the Favour of Almighty 
God, and the Bounty and Patronage of pious and well-disposed Persons, 
that it may prove of great and lasting Benefit to the present and future 
rising Generations ; We the subscribers do promise to pay to William 
Colemati, the Treasurer, elected according to the above Constitutions, or 
to his Successor or Successors for the Time being, the several sums of 
Money by us respectively subscribed to be paid, at the Times in our Sub- 
scriptions respectively mentioned. Witness our Hands. 

Per Annum, for Five Years. 

James Hamilton, Fifty Pounds, . .^50 00 00 

Thomas Lawrettce, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

Joseph Turner, Twenty Pounds, . , 20 00 00 

William Allen, Seventy-five Pounds, 75 00 00 

William Masters, Twenty Pounds, 20 00 00 

Lloyd Zachary, Twenty Pounds, 20 00 00 

William Phmisted, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

Abraham Taylor, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

Samuel M" Call, Junior, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

John Inglis, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Charles Willing, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

Thojnas Bond, Fifteen Pounds, 15 00 00 

Tench Francis, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

William Shippen, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Benjamin Franklin, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Phineas Bond, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

William Coleman, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Richard Peters, Ten Pounds , 10 00 00 

Joshua Maddox, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Robert Strettell, Ten Pounds, 10 00 00 

Philip Syjtg, Six Pounds, 6 00 00 

Thomas Leech, Six Pounds 6 00 00 

Thomas White, Six Pounds, 6 00 00 



52 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

On Monday, 13 November, 1749, nineteen of the Trustees 
had assembled for due organization, but of the place of their 
meeting we are not told. The first Minute recites : 

On the thirteenth day of November in the year of our Lord one thou- 
sand seven hundred forty and nine, the following persons, to wit, Thomas 
Lawrence, William Allen, John Inglis, Tench Francis, William Masters, 
Lloyd Zachary, Samuel M'Call, Jun'', Joseph Turner, Benjamin Franklin, 
Thomas Leech, William Shippen, Robert Strettell, Philip Syng, Charles 
Willing, Phineas Bond, Richard Peters, Abraham Taylor, Thomas Bond, 
and Thomas Hopkinson, met, and having read and approved of the fore- 
going Constitutions, signed them with their names, and thereby took upon 
themselves the execution of the Trusts in those Constitutions expressed. 

Whereupon Mr Benjamin Franklin was elected President and Mr 
William Coleman Treasurer for the ensuing year. 

The five remaining Trustees, namely James Logan, William 
Plumsted, Joshua Maddox, Thomas White, and William Cole- 
man, appeared at the next' meeting, which did not occur until 
26 December, and signed the Constitutions. This was the only 
meeting ot the Trustees attended by James Logan, although he 
remained a Trustee until his death two years later ; his absences, 
before referred to, were due to declining years and ill health and 
not from want of interest in a work whose character he was in 
sympathy with and whose propounder he warmly supported. 
Here we can quote Proud's reference to the two greater 
or public seminaries of Philadelphia, at this time, as follows : 

Besides the numerous private Schools, for the education of youth, in 
this city, there are two public seminaries of learning, incorporated by 
charter, and provided with funds ; the first, in order of time, is that of the 
Quakers, already mentioned in another place, incorporated by the first 
Proprietor, William Penn ^- * * * * * The second is the College 
and Academy of Philadelphia, of a much later standing, and not existing 
as such, before the year 1749 ; but greatly improved of late years ; and is 
likely, if its present prudent management be continued, to become here- 
after, the most considerable of the kind, perhaps, in British America : the 
corporation consists of twenty four members, called Trustees ; they have a 
large commodious building, on the West Side of Fourth Street, near Mul- 
berry Street, where the different branches of learning and science are 
taught, in the various parts of the institution. ^ 



^ Hislory of Pennsylvania^ ii. 281. 1st edition, 1797. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 53 



XI 

Before we enter upon the further proceedings of the Trus- 
tees, let us inform ourselves upon the men, in their personal or 
public characters, who now took upon themselves this Trust, 
and who laid upon strong foundations an edifice of learning 
whose history their well matured plans make it worth our while 
to pursue through these its earliest years. In enumerating them 
we follow the order of their precedence which was observed in 
the deed of conveyance to them of the Tenth street property in 
1750 and followed in their first minutes; in the conve3'ance 
they are thus recited and described : ^ 

James Logan, Esquire Robert Strettell, Esquire 

Thomas Lawrence, Esquire Philip Syng, Silversmith 

William Allen, Esquire Charles Wihing, Esquire 

John Inglis, Merchant Phineas Bond, Practitioner 
Tench Francis, Esquire in Physic 

William Masters, Esquire Richard Peters, Esquire 

Lloyd Zachary, Practitioner Abraham Taylor, Esquire 

in Physic Thomas Bond, Practitioner 
Samuel M'Call, jr. Merchant in Physic 

Joseph Turner, Esquire Thomas Hopkinson, Esquire 

Benjamin Franklin, Printer William Plumsted, Esquire 

Thomas Leech, Merchant Joshua Maddox, Esquire 

William Shippen, Practitioner Thomas White, Esquire 

in Physic William Coleman, Merchant 

James Logan, born in Ireland in 1674 of honorable Scotch 
lineage, was now seventy-five years of age, and the foremost 
man in the province, eminent in public life, and a faithful 
adherent of the dominant religion. He had been the patient 



1 1 am greatly indebted in compiling the personal notices of many of the 
Trustees to that admirable compendium of local biography and genealogy The Pro- 
vincial Councillors of Pennsylvania by Mr. Charles Penrose Keith of the class of 
1873. ^^^ foi" records of civic and judicial life, reference is also made to Mr. John 
Hill Martin's Bench and Bar of Philadelphia. 



54 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Secretary to William Penn who later made him Provincial Sec- 
retary, Commissioner of Property, and Receiver General. He 
also in turn was Recorder of the City of Philadelphia, Presiding 
Judge of Common Pleas, Chief Justice of the Province, and as 
President of the Council between the death of Governor Gordon 
in 1736 and the arrival of Governor Thomas in 1738 he gov- 
erned the province. " Fidelity, integrity, and disinterestedness 
were eminently conspicuous in his character, which was indeed 
of that sterling worth that needs no meretricious ornament."^ 
Mr. J. Francis Fisher says of him, 

A history of James Logan's public life would be that of Pennsylvania 
during the first forty years of the last century. Venerating William Penn, 
with whose noble and generous nature he was well acquainted, he stood up 
at all times in his defence against the encroachments of the Assembly ; 
and, if he forfeited his popularity, and endured calumny and persecution, 
he preserved his fidelity, the confidence of his employers, and the respect 
of all good men. Weary of the burden of public office, he retired in 1738 
from all his salaried employments, remaining only a short time longer a 
member of the Provincial Council. At his estate, called Stenton, near 
Germantown, he passed in retirement the remainder of his days, devoted 
to agriculture and his favorite studies .^ 

At an early age he showed great proficiency in classics, 
comprehending Latin, Greek and Hebrew before he was thirteen 
years of age. His leisure days after his retirement from public 
concern found ample employment in his classical studies as well 
as his interests in matters of science. His rare collection 
of books " he left a legacy to the public, such at least was his 
intention and his children after his death fulfilled his bequest," * 
and these testify to his wide reading and general knowledge. It 
was while the humble glazier, Thomas Godfrey, was working at 



^ Deborah Logan in Penn and Logan Correspondence^ i. liv. 

3 Contributed to Sparks, vii. 25, and copied by Bigelow, ii. 94. Mr. Fisher 
was a descendant through his father from James Logan, and through his mother from 
two other Trustees, Tench Francis and Charles Willing. He was a graduate of 
Harvard in 1825 as was also his cousin Dr. Charles Willing. See a letter addressed 
to them while at Harvard by Bishop White 25 October, 1S22. A/emoir by Wilson, 
p. 414. Mr. Fisher was a member of the American Philosophical Society and a 
Vice President of the Pennsylvania Historical Society ; he died 21 January, 1873 
aged 67 years. 

* Deborah Logan P. &. L. Corres. i. Iv. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 55 

Stenton and had his thoughtful attention drawn by a falling piece 
of glass, that there sprang up in his mind the ideas of the Quad- 
rant, which he first imparted to Logan, who found him immedi- 
ately after this incident in his library consulting a volume of New- 
ton to aid him in elucidating his thoughts ; and it was due to 
Logan's help in furthering his experiments, that success was 
reached and due honor granted Godfrey as the inventor of the 
Quadrant, preceding by two years the claim of Hadley to the 
discovery,^ 

Logan was a staunch Friend but he could not fully share 
in the Society's absolute views on non resistance ; and quite 
consistently he not only took an interest in but also contributed to 
the Association which Franklin in 1747 originated for the defence 
of the city against foreign invasion which was then feared, and 
for which the Friends, then controlHng the Assembly, would 
appropriate no funds. Logan writes to Franklin 3 December, 
1747 :« 

I have expected to see thee here for several weeks, according to my 
son's information, with EucHd' s title page printed, and my Mattaire's Lives 
of the Stephenses ; but it is probable thy thoughts of thy new excellent 
project have in some measure diverted thee, to which I most heartily wish 
all possible success. * * * Ever since I have had the power of think- 
ing, I have clearly seen that government without arms is an inconsistency, 
for Friends spare no pains to get and accumulate estates, and are yet 
against defending them, though these very estates are in a great measure 
the sole cause of their being invaded, as I showed to our Yearly Meeting, 
last September was six years, in a paper then printed But I request to be 
informed, as soon as thou hast any leisure, what measures are proposed to 
furnish small arms, powder, and ball to those in the country ; and particu- 
larly what measures are taken to defend our river, especially at the Red 
Bank, on the Jersey side, and on our own, where there ought not to be less 
than forty guns, from six to twelve pounders. What gunners are to be 
depended on ? Thy project of a lottery to clear ^3000. is excellent, and 
I hope it will be speedily filled ; nor shall I be wanting. But thou wilt 
answer all these questions and much more, if thou wilt visit me here, as on 
First day, to dine with me, and thou wilt exceedingly oblige thy very loving- 
friend, James Logan. 



^ Deborah Logan P. & L. Corres. i. liv. ^ Sparks, vii. 24. 



56 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

To which in a letter written next day Franklin repHed : ^ 
I am heartily glad you approve of our proceedings. * * * i 
have not time to write larger, nor to wait on you till next week. In general 
all goes well, and there is a surprising unanimity in all ranks. Near eight 
hundred have signed the association, and more are signing hourly. One 
company of Dutch is complete. 

In his autobiography he says : " Mr. Logan put into my 
hands Sixty pounds to be laid out in lottery tickets for the bat- 
tery, with directions to apply what prizes might be drawn wholly 
to that service." - 

Logan's classical studies were not intermitted during his 
public career, for it was in 1734 he undertook his well known 
translation of Cicero's De Senectute, which with explanatory Notes 
was published for him by Franklin in 1744. Franklin makes a 
preface to the book, entitled the " printer to the reader," and 
says : 

some friends, among whom I had the honor to be ranked, obtained 
copies of it in MS. And, as I believed it to be in itself equal at least, if 
not far preferable to any other translation of the same piece extant in our 
language, besides the advantage it has of so many valuable notes, which 
at the same time they clear up the text, are highly instructive and enter- 
taining, I resolved to give it an impression, being confident that the public 
would not unfavorably receive it. 

He closed by adding 

his hearty wish that this first translation of a classic in this Western World 
may be followed with many others, performed with equal judgment and 
success ; and be a happy omen, that Philadelphia shall become the seat of 
the American muses. 

Had Franklin known of George Sandy's translation of 
Ovid's Metamorphoses, in Virginia when Treasurer of that 
colony, more than a centur}^ before, he would not have claimed 
for Logan the honor of making the first American translation of 
a classic, but while that was " the first English literary produc- 
tion penned in America, at least which has any rank or name 
in the general history of literature," ^ it was printed in London in 
1626, and it may be claimed for Logan that his was the first 
American print of such a translation. Other translations of 

'' Bigelow, ii. 94. ^ Ibid, i. 219. ^ Duyckinck, i, 1,77. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 57 

Logan from the ancient and essays on matters of practical 
import testify to his learning and industry. With such training 
and tastes he would naturally welcome any effort to secure and 
extend the advantages of learning to the young generations 
around him, and having confidence in Franklin's executive 
ability to carry to maturity any scheme he would formulate in 
furtherance of this, and reliance on his practical judgment, he 
naturally gave his interest and influence to it ; and his name 
heading the new trust in compliance with Franklin's desire, was 
in itself an augury of success to the enterprise. Logan writes 
to Peter Collinson in London i July 1749, "Benjamin Franklin 
has been here to day, to show me some new curiosities in elec- 
tricity, but the weather was too warm and moist." And on 20 
October 

our most ingenious printer and postmaster, Benjamin Franklin, has 
the clearest understanding, with as extreme modesty as any man I know 
here. Thou hast seen several of his pieces on electricity, wherein he 
almost excels you all. 

His practical interest in the new Academy was evidenced 
in his early offer to the Trustees of " the gift of a lot of ground 
on Sixth Street to erect an Academy upon, provided it should 
be built within the Term of Fourteen Years." This lot was 
opposite the State House Square, probably immediately North 
of the building for his Library which Logan had before this date 
erected on the northwest corner of Walnut and Sixth Streets, at 
that time considered out of town. ^^ To this however 
the President was desired to acquaint Mr. Logan [at the meeting of 26 
December] that the Trustees had a most grateful sense of his regard to the 



^'^ In a note to the Proposals of 1 749, Franklin refers to this Library, viz : 
' ' Besides the English Library begun and carried on by subscription in Philadelphia, 
we may expect the Benefit of another much more valuable in the Learned Languages, 
which has been many years collecting with the greatest Care, by a Gentleman dis- 
tinguish' d for his Universal Knowledge, no less than for his Judgment in Books. 
It contains many hundred Volumes of the best Authors in the best Editions, among 
which are, * * * . A handsome Building about 60 feet in front, is now erected 
in this city, at the private Expense of that Gentleman, for the Reception of this 
Library, where it is soon to be deposited, and remain for the publick use with a 
valuable yearly Income duly to enlarge it ; and I have his Permission to mention it 
as an Encouragement to the propos'd Academy ; to which this noble Benefaction 
will doubtless be of the greatest Advantage, as not only the Students, but even the 
Masters themselves, may very much improve by it." Proposals, p. 8. 



58 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Academy, but as the New Building was in all respects better suited to 
their present circumstances and future views, they could only return him 
their sincere thanks for his kind and generous offer. 

In his late years he suffered from ill health, and on 3 1 October, 
1 75 1 he died at Stenton. The new Trustee selected in his 
place was Isaac Norris, his son-in-law. 

Franklin's obituary to him which appeared in the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette of 7 November fittingly records his estimation of 
the man who was first in the list of the Trustees of the Academy : 

Thursday last, after a long Indisposition, died the honourable James 
Logan, Esq. : in the 77th Year of his Age, and on Saturday his Remains 
were decently interr'd, in the Friends Burying ground in this city, the 
Funeral being respectfully attended by the principal Gentlemen and In- 
habitants of Philadelphia and the neighbouring Country. His Life was 
for the most Part a Life of Business, tho' he had always been passionately 
fond of study. He had borne the Several Offices of Provincial Secretary, 
Commissioner of Property, Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, and for near 
two Years govern' d the Province as President of the Council, in all which 
publick Stations, as well as in private Life, he behav'd with unblemish'd 
Integrity : But some Years before his Death he retired from publick 
Affairs to Stenton his Country Seat, where he enjoy' d among his Books 
that Leisure which Men of Letters so earnestly desire. He was thoroughly 
versed both in ancient and modern Learning, acquainted with the oriental 
Tongues, a Master of the Greek and Latin, French and Italian Languages, 
deeply skilled in the Mathematical Sciences, and in Natural and Mora^ 
Philosophy, as several Pieces of his writing witness, which have been 
repeatedly printed in Divers Parts of Europe, and are highly esteemed by 
the Learned, But the most noble Monument of his Wisdom, Publick 
Spirit, Benevolence and affectionate Regard to the People of Pennsylvania 
is his Library ; which he has been collecting these 50 Years past, with 
the greatest Care and Judgment, intending it a Benefaction to the Publick 
for the Increase of Knowledge, and for the common Use and Benefit of all 
Lovers of Learning. It contains the best Editions of the best Books in 
various Languages, Arts and Sciences, and is without Doubt the largest, 
and by far the most valuable Collection of the Kind in this Part of the 
World, and will convey the name of Logan thro' ages with Honour, to the 
latest posterity. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 59 

Thomas Lawrence was born in New York 4 September, 
1689, the grandson of Thomas Laurenszen, whose arrival in 
New York in 1662 and marriage in the year following are found 
in the records of the Old Dutch Church, where is also the record 
of Thomas' baptism on 8 September, 1689. He appears to have 
settled in Philadelphia about the year 1720, shortly after his 
marriage. He here entered into mercantile life, James Logan 
mentioning him as associated with him in shipping, and in 1730 
he became partner of Edward Shippen, the elder brother of 
Dr. William Shippen, and who was later known as Edward 
Shippen of Lancaster, whither he removed about 1752, the 
firm being Shippen & Lawrence. He was elected a Common 
Councilman 3 October, 1722, an Alderman 6 October, 1724, 
and Mayor of the City in 1728, 1734, 1749, and 1753, during 
which last incumbency he died. Governor Gordon called him 
to a seat in the Provincial Council in April 1727, but he did not 
qualify until 10 May 1728. In September, 1745 he was deputed 
one of the Commissioners from Pennsylvania to treat with the 
Six Nations at Albany. When Franklin declined the Lieutenant 
Colonelcy of the Philadelphia Association, he recommended, his 
autobiography tells us, " Mr. Lawrence, a fine person, and a 
man of influence, who was accordingly appointed." ^^ He was 
for some time Judge of the County Court ; and in 172 1 and '22 
a Warden of Christ Church. He was a frequent attendant on 
the meetings of the Trustees, rarely missing one in their first 
two years, notwithstanding his business engagements and his 
manifold public duties, in those securing a handsome prop- 
erty for his children and in these a constantly widening 
reputation and influence. The last meeting of the Trustees he 
attended was on 17 November, 1753. He died 21 April, 1754, 
and was buried in the Family Vault in Christ Church Burying 
Ground, not far from the spot where the remains of Franklin 
were laid thirty-five years later. We can read the latter's author- 
ship in the obituary notice on him which appeared in the Pcjin- 
sylvania Gazette on 25 April, 1754. 

Last Sunday, after a tedious"" fit of Sickness, died here, very much 



11 Bigelow, i. 214. 



6o History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

lamented, Thomas Lawrence, Esq. He had the Honour to be a Member 
of the Council of this Province, was President of the Court of Common 
Pleas for the County of Philadelphia, had been five times elected Mayor 
of this City, and in the enjoyment of these Offices ended his life. Charac- 
ters are extremely delicate, and few or none drawn with Exactness and 
at Length, are free of Blemish. Of this Gentleman we think it may be 
truly said, he was an affectionate Husband, a tender Parent, a kind indul- 
gent Master, and a faithful Friend. The Funeral was respectfully attended 
on Tuesday Evening by a great number of the principal Inhabitants of the 
Place, who justly regret the Death of so able and diligent a Magistrate as 
a public loss. 

But the same hand did not write the Epitaph on his Tomb 

Stone, namely 

In Memory of 

Thomas Lawrence, Esq 

An eminent Merchant 

A faithful Counsellor 

An active Magistrate 

Of Pennsylvania 

Whose private virtues endeared him to his family and friends ; 

Whose public conduct gained him respect and esteem. 

Expecting everlasting life he ended this 

During his ninth Mayorality of this city 

the 25th day of April MDCCLIHI. 

Aged 64 years 

Mr. Lawrence married at Raritan 25 May, 17 19, his kins- 
woman Rachel, daughter of Cornehus Longfield of New Bruns- 
wick whose daughter Catherine married John Cox, and their 
son John Cox of Bloomsbury became father in law to Hon. 
Horace Binney and John Redman Coxe, M. D. Of the chil- 
dren of Thomas and Rachel Lawrence, the eldest Thomas was 
twice Mayor of the City, in 1758 and 1764; the second, John, 
was Mayor from 1765 to 1767, and in the latter year was 
appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court, and in 1750 married 
the daughter of Tench Francis, a Trustee of the Academy and 
College ; and their daughter Mary married a few months after her 
father's death William Masters, also a Trustee. It was she 
who, when the Widow Masters — her husband had died in 1760 — , 
built the house on the south side of Market Street below Sixth, 
which her son-in-law, Richard Penn the Councillor, Sir William 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 6i 

Howe during the occupation of the city by the British, and 
Benedict Arnold successively occupied, and on the site of which 
Robert Morris built the house in which Washington resided 
during his Presidency. 

Mr. Lawrence's place in the Board was filled by the elec- 
tion at the September meeting of the Hon. James Hamilton, 
Governor of the Province. He had been a faithful attendant at 
its meetings; the last one he attended was on 17 November,. 
1753, just prior to his fatal illness. 

William Allen" was born in Philadelphia, 5 August, 1704, 
the son of William Allen a merchant in that city and a native of 
Ireland who married about 1700, Mary daughter of Thomas 
Budd. Mrs. Allen's sister Rose became the wife of Joseph 
Shippen and step mother to Dr. William Shippen. His father 
brought William up to the study of law, and at the time of his 
death in 1725, the son appears to have been in London pursuing 
these studies. 

The father's death, however, hastened his return home, for 
we find him in Philadelphia prior to September 1726, as his 
signature appears to the agreement of the merchants and chief 
citizens to take the money of the Lower Counties at their face 
value. He now engaged in trade, relinquishing the Law. He 
was elected a Common Councilman of Philadelphia 3 October, 
1727. In 1 73 1 he became a member of the Assembly, serving 
until 1739. In 1730 he secured property for the new State 
House on Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, his 
father-in-law Andrew Hamilton, Thomas Lawrence, and Dr. 
John Kearsley being the Trustees of the State House fund ; he 
advanced money for the purchase of certain of the lots, taking 
the title in his own name until the Province reimbursed him. 
In 1732 the building appears to have been begun. 

He was chosen Mayor of the city in October, 1735 ; a^^d at 
the close of his term, in the Hall of Assembly now just finished, 
he opened by a collation customary from the outgoing Mayor. 
This must have been had in one of the lower rooms, the upper 
story not being yet completed. Franklin gives us a participant's. 



62 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

account of this notable feast in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 30 
September, 1736 : 

Thursday last William Allen, Esq., Mayor of this city for the year 
past made a Feast for his citizens at the Statehouse, to which all the 
Strangers in Town of Note were also invited. Those who are Judges of 
such Things say That considering the Delicacy of the Viands, the 
Excellency of the Wines, the great Number of Guests, and yet the Easiness 
and Order with which the Whole was conducted, it was the most grand 
and the most elegant Entertainment that has been made in these Parts of 
America. 

Mr. Allen became the partner of Joseph Turner, also with 
him a Trustee of the Academy, and in his business he was very 
successful and amassed a fortune which was enlarged by fortu- 
nate land investments. He was appointed Recorder of Deeds 
by the Common Council, 7 August, 1 741, succeeding therein his 
father-in-law Andrew Hamilton who had died 4 August. In the 
local struggle to secure proper appropriations from the Quaker 
Assembly to put the colony in a state of defence against threat- 
ened enemies, for the war of England with Spain promised to 
involve the American provinces in its issues, Allen became the 
head of the anti-Quaker party, but the result of what was long 
known as the bloody election of 1742 was the return of the 
leader of the other party, Isaac Norris, to the Assembly ; but as 
Recorder he could maintain the policy of the city in support of 
the Governor in his struggle against Norris' friends in the 
Assembly. Yet, but seven years later, these two united in sup- 
port of Franklin's efforts to establish the great educational insti- 
tution he had been planning. He continued Recorder of the 
City, then an important judicial office, until 2 October, 1750, 
when he resigned the office having been appointed Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court of the Province. " He was the only 
Chief Justice before the Revolution who was a native of Penn- 
sylvania, and the only one before or since excepting Shippen 
and Sharswood who has been a native of Philadelphia." He, 
however, continued his business interests uninterruptedly, and 
from 1756 up to the Revolution was a member of the Assembly 
from Cumberland County. About 1750 his country seat was 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 63 

established at Mount Airy, now in the Twenty-second Ward 
of the City of Philadelphia, and in the possession of the family 
of the late James Gowen, Esquire. In 1765 he laid out a town 
in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, on a tract of land lying 
on the Lehigh River, which we now know as the flourishing 
city of AUentown. 

Allen was a public spirited man, generous with his means, 
giving his services as Chief Justice gratuitously that he might 
devote the salary of the station to charities. Besides his 
advances on the State House purchases, he advanced on one 
occasion a good part of the tax payable by the Proprietaries 
under a bill proposed for raising revenue, in the deadlock 
between the Lieutenant Governor and the Assembly, the former 
pressing for money for military uses, and not being free to con- 
sent to a law which included the Proprietary estates in the 
assessment for taxation, and the Assembly refusing to vote the 
means of defence unless such assessment with taxation was 
agreed to ; the gentlemen of Philadelphia made up the sum 
which it was estimated would be due from the Proprietaries, and 
then the Assembly passed the necessary money bills. When in 
England on a visit in 1763 he labored with the home authorities 
against any stamp duty, and to him was given the credit of 
securing the postponement of its consideration to another session 
of Parliament. He joined the American Philosophical Society 
shortly after its reorganization in 1769, as did also his three 
sons. 

His presence at the meetings of the Trustees was suffi- 
ciently uniform to attest his continued interest in the welfare of 
the institution, though his regular attendance at the Trustees' 
meetings in the early years of its work was more marked and 
regular. But amid all his public duties he attended at intervals, 
and the last meeting we find his name recorded was i June, 
1779, a few months prior to the abrogation of the charter. He 
was one of the organisers of St. John's Lodge Philadelphia, and 
in 1732 was elected Grand Master for one year. ^^ He was after- 



12 Pennsylvania Gazette, 24 June, 1 732, 



64 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

wards appointed Provincial Grand Master, by the Grand Master of 
England in 1750. He and Franklin were now making a diver- 
gence in their public paths ; the sharpness of thepohtical contests 
of the time began to cut into all relations of life : while Allen's 
sympathies were naturally with the Proprietaries, Franklin's were 
with the people ; and though they had labored side by side to 
induce the Proprietaries to submit their lands to general taxation 
for the public weal, they separated, because while one saw in 
the attitude of resistance a special though limited cause of 
complaint, the other found in it heated controversies. It gave 
rise to the germs of those broader views which were the basis 
of all Franklin's services in behalf of his country ; Allen saw 
only the present popular clamor against the Proprietaries ; the 
other with a wiser apprehension saw that greater and more lasting 
principles were involved, out of which grew further those 
feelings in his mind of personal disrespect for the Penns which 
continued with him through life, and which would necessarily 
in some measure alienate those friends of his, such as Allen whose 
friendship for the Penn family continued unbroken, strongly 
cemented as it was by the marriage of his eldest daughter Anne 
in 1766 to John Penn, then a Councillor and afterwards Governor 
of Pennsylvania. Allen misconceived Franklin's course in regard 
to the Stamp Act, and in his absence abroad charged him with 
double dealing in the matter; yet when Allen called him "that 
Goliath," nothing more need be added showing his opinion and 
perhaps fear of the ability and powers of this remarkable man.'^ 
William Allen in the preliminary skirmishes of the Revolu- 
tion sided with the Colonies, and he went so far as to donate 
shot to the Council of Safety. But his efforts to maintain peace 
between them and the mother country drew him away from 
the thought of a bloody contest, and as there could be no 
midway, his alienation from his country's cause was com- 
plete. He resigned the Chief Justiceship in 1774. He retained 
his seat in the Assembly as late as June, 1776, but it is 
thought he went abroad shortly after. However, he was in 

13 See his letters in The Burd Papers for evidences of his later feelings 
against Franklin. 



History of the University of Pennyslvania. 65 

Philadelphia a few months later, as he attended a meeting of the 
Trustees on 3 1 October, and again his presence is recorded at 
the three meetings in March 1777. This would seem to refute 
the statement which has been accepted that he returned to 
Philadelphia on the entrance of the British troops in September, 
1777, We find him also at the meetings of the Trustees in 
February, March, May, and June 1779. He died 6 September, 
1780; and it is believed his death occurred in Philadelphia, or 
at Mount Airy. By a codicil to his will dated i December, 
1779 he freed all his slaves. 

Chief Justice Allen married 16 February, 1734, Margaret 
only daughter of Andrew Hamilton, the Councillor, the most 
eminent lawyer of his time in Pennsylvania, who died in 
1 74 1. Her only brothers James and Andrew Hamilton were 
also Councillors, and the former was Lieutenant Governor of the 
Province from 1748 to 1754 and died unmarried. Andrew was 
elected a Trustee in 1754 of the Academy, in the vacancy made 
by the death of Thomas Lawrence. His second son William 
Hamilton who was born in 1745 was the builder of the beauti- 
fully located and well known Woodland Mansion, near the 
University Buildings, where he died in 1 813. Of William and 
Margaret Allen's children, besides Anne who married John 
Penn, there was another daughter Margaret who married in 177 1 
James DeLancey eldest son of James DeLancey, Chief Justice 
and Governor of New York, whose second son John Peter 
DeLancey was the father of the Rev. Wilham Heathcote 
DeLancey, D. D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 
1828 to 1833. Of their three sons, Andrew married Sarah 
Coxe, granddaughter of Tench Francis, and was himself a Coun- 
cillor in 1770, but becoming a loyalist, as was his father, went 
abroad and died in London in 1825 ; and James, whose wife 
was a granddaughter of Thomas Lawrence the Councillor, who 
died in 1778. Both Andrew and James Allen were graduates 
of the Academy in the class of 1759. 



66 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

John Inglis was born in Scotland in 1708. He came to 
Philadelphia in 1736 from the Island of Nevis where he had 
been a merchant. He here pursued the same career, soon 
rising into prominence as a successful merchant, and was in part- 
nership with Samuel M'Call, senior, his wife's brother-in-law 
and cousin. He was elected a Common Councilman i Octo- 
ber, 1745. On I January, 1747-8 he was commissioned Captain 
of the First Company of the Associated Regiment of Foot, of 
which Samuel M'Call senior was a Major ; and in the Associa- 
tion Battery Company of 1756 he was a private with his wife's 
brother Archibald M'Call and brother-in-law Wilham Plumsted. 
During the absence of Abraham Taylor, he was Deputy Col- 
lector from 175 1 to 1753. He was in the Commission of 1756, 
of which Alexander Stedman at that time a Trustee of the 
Academy was also a member, to audit the accounts of the far- 
mers of Pennsylvania and others, who had claims for losses of 
horses and wagons under the contracts which Franklin had 
made in 1755 to supply Braddock's needs. He signed the war 
Importation Resolutions of 1765. He was one of the organizers 
of the St. Andrew's Society in 1749, and succeeded Governor 
Morris as its President. He died 20 August, 1775. We may 
recognize a familiar pen in the obituary notice of him in the 
Pennsylvania Gazette of 23 August: 

On Sunday morning last, after a lingering and painful indisposition, 
which he supported with great equanimity, died John Inglis, Esq., of this 
city in the 68th year of his age ; a gentleman who early acquired, and 
maintained to the last, the character of a truly honest man. Possessing a 
liberal and independent spirit, despising everything which he thought 
unbecoming a gentleman, attentive to business, frugal but yet elegant in 
his economy, he lived superior to the world, beloved and respected as an 
useful citizen, an agreeable companion, a sincere friend, and an excellent 
father of a family. 

He married 16 October, 1736, Catherine, daughter of 
George M'Call, a native of Scotland then settled in Phila- 
delphia, whose wife was a daughter of Jasper Yeates and 
a descendant of Joran Kyn the founder of the Swedish 
settlement at Upland. Of their numerous children, John was 
engaged in the merchant marine service, and secured a commis- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. dy 

sion as Captain in the Royal Navy in which he obtained 
the rank of Rear Admiral; Samuel was elected in 1777 a 
member of the Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse and died in 
1783 ; and Katharine lived with her cousin Margaret M'Call, 
daughter of Samuel M'Call, junior, who were "United through 
life. United in the grave" as we are told on their joint tomb- 
stone erected "Sacred to Friendship," in Christ Church Burying 
Ground. Mrs. Inglis' brother Samuel M'Call, junior, was a 
Trustee of the Academy, as was also her sister Mary's husband 
William Plumsted. 

Mr. Inglis' attendance at the meetings of the Trustees was 
almost continuous ; a long interval occurred from May 1762 to 
September 1764, which is not explained, but on his return his 
accustomed regularity was resumed. His last attendance was 
on 22 February, 1774, when the request of the Provost for the 
erection of a house for him on the College Grounds was unani- 
mously granted. His place on the Board was filled on 17 Octo- 
ber, 1776, by the election of Hon. James Tilghman. 

Tench Francis was born in Ireland, the son of the Very 
Reverend John Francis, Dean of Lismore in 1722, who was the 
grandson of Philip Francis who was Mayor of Plymouth in 1622. 
Mr. Francis came to Maryland, as others of his countrymen had 
done under the attractions held out by the Calverts ; and it was 
while acting as Attorney for Lord Baltimore that he married in 
1 724 Elizabeth Turbutt of Talbot County, Maryland. He had two 
brothers, Richard, author of Maxims of Equity, first published 
in 1729, with an American edition in Richmond in 1823 ; and 
the Rev. Philip Francis, D.D. who was father of Sir Philip 
Francis to whom the authorship of The Letters of Junius was for 
many years attributed. He appears early to have moved to 
Pennsylvania for we find him Clerk of the County Court from 
1726 to 1734. He was Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 
1741 to 1755, and Recorder of Philadelphia from 1750 to 1755. 
His attendance at the meetings of the Trustees was very uniform 
up to within eighteen months of his death, which occurred on 16 
August, 1758; his last attendance was on 9 May, preceding. 



68 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The family tomb in Christ Church Burying Ground was erected 
by his son Tench and bears this inscription in part : " The Vault 
over which this Monument is erected was built by the late 
Tench Francis, for the purpose of depositing the remains of 
Tench and Elizabeth Francis his Parents, and a Sepulchre for 
himself and his descendants." The vacancy in the Trustees 
made by his death was filled at the meeting of 12 September by 
the election of Edward Shippen, jr. 

Of Mr. Francis' children, Anne married in 1743 James 
Tilghman the Councillor ; Mary married William Coxe of 
New Jersey, and her daughter married Andrew Allen the 
Councillor ; Tench married Anne daughter of Charles Will- 
ing, a Trustee of the Academy ; and Elizabeth married John 
the son of Thomas Lawrence also a Trustee. 

The Poinsylvania Gazette of 24 August, 1758, records the 
following obituary to his memory : 

On Wednesday, the i6th Instant, died here Tench Francis, Esq., 
Attorney at Law. He was no less remarkable for strict Fidelity than for 
his profound skill in his profession. He filled the Stations of Attorney 
General of this Province and Recorder of this city, for a Number of years, 
with the highest Reputation ; and when declining Health had called him 
from the Bar, he continued his Usefulness to his Country, by carrying on 
a large and honourable Trade. His domestic virtues made him dear to his 
Family ; his Learning and Abilities, valuable to the Community ; to both 
his Death is a real Loss. 

William Masters was the son of Thomas Masters, who 
came with his children from Bermuda to Pennsylvania perhaps 
prior to the year 1700, and who built at Front and Market 
Streets in 1704 what was said to be the first three-story house 
in Philadelphia. He was an Alderman of the city in 1702, and 
Mayor from 1707 to 1709, and died in December, 1723. 
William inherited from his father and brother Thomas (who died 
in March i740-i)a valuable tract of land in the Northern Liberties, 
running West from the Delaware River to beyond Broad Street 
and lying between the present Girard and Montgomery Avenues. 
He was a representative from Philadelphia County in the 
assembly for many years, and a commissioner to disburse the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 6g 

money appropriated for the defence of the Province. His sister 
Mercy married Peter Lloyd, the first cousin of Dr. Lloyd Zachary, 
a fellow Trustee. The story of William's early courtship, and 
reputed engagement to, William Penn's daughter Letitia, who was 
his senior in years, and who after reaching England at the close of 
1 70 1 forgot him and soon afterwards married William Aubrey, 
which was referred to with feeling by James Logan in his letter to 
Penn written in May 1702, forms one of the earliest romances in 
high life in the Province.^* However that may be, he remained 
single during her life ; she died in 1746, and we find him, an elderly 
man, marrying in 1754 Mary, daughter of Thomas Lawrence 
the Councillor, who must have been his cotemporary in years. 
He died 24 November, 1760; of his two daughters who grew 
to adult years, Mary married, in 1772, Richard Penn the Coun- 
cillor, the grandson of William Penn, and died in London in 
1829; and Sarah married, in 1795, Turner Camac of Green- 
mount Lodge, County Louth, Ireland. 

The Pennsylvania Gazette of 27 November, 1760, thus 
noticed his death : 

Yesterday were interred the Remains of William Masters, Esq. , 
who was one of the Representatives of this City in Assembly, and a 
Provincial Commissioner, for several years. He was not more remarkable 
for his Superior Fortune, than for his firm Adherance to the Constitution of 
his Country, and the common Rights of Mankind. 

His will which was probated 30 January, 1761, appointed 
Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Fox and Joseph Galloway executors 
of his Estate and guardians of his three minor daughters; but as 
Franklin was absent in England, he did not qualify. 

Mrs. Masters, in the year following that of the death of her 
husband, took conveyance from her father of a large lot on the 
South side of Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets, 
upon which she decided to build a handsome mansion. Here 
her daughter Mary lived with her, and on the occasion of 
her marriage to Richard Penn, who had come from England in 
1 77 1 commissioned as Lieutenant Governor, the mother con- 
veyed the property to her. During the possession of the city 

^* The element of doubt that appears in this colonial romance, is stated by 
Mr. Jenkins in his The Family of William Femi, pp. 62-63. 



70 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

by the British, General Howe occupied the Mansion, the 
stateliest in the city. When the city came again under home 
rule, and Arnold was in command, the latter here lived sumptu- 
ously until his final departure. The house was then occupied 
by the French Consul General Holker, and during his occupancy 
it was burnt down in 1780. The lot with the ruins Robert Morris 
leased, rebuilt the house in its former style and purchased 
t in 1785, and here remained until he vacated it for the use of 
our first President, and it then became the residence of Washing- 
ton during his two terms of office, and hence bears in local 
history the name of the Washington Mansion. The building 
afterwards erected by the State on Ninth Street for the use of 
his successors in office was never so occupied, and was sold to 
the University of Pennsylvania in 1801. 

Mr. Masters attendance at the meeting of the Trustees was 
sufficiently regular to evince his interests in their concerns, but 
for three years prior to his death his name does not appear as 
present, the last meeting at which he appears being ii January, 
1757. He was succeeded in the trust by the Rev. Jacob Duche, 
who was elected 10 February, 1761. 

Dr. Lloyd Zachary, was born in Philadelphia in 1701, the 
son of Daniel Zachary a native of England who had emigrated 
to Boston, and who married 9 April, 1700, Elizabeth, daughter 
of Thomas Lloyd, Lieutenant Governor of the Province. De- 
borah Logan says of him : " This worthy man, who had settled 
in Boston, but had married a Pennsylvanian, a daughter of Thomas 
Lloyd, upon the decease of his wife, went home to England, 
where shortly after his arrival he also died. He left one son, 
Lloyd Zachary, who became afterwards a distinguished physi- 
cian in Philadelphia." '^ Young Zachary studied medicine under 
Dr. Kearsley, and afterwards abroad, and returning to Phila- 
delphia began the practice of his profession with zeal and 
skill, becoming one of the first physicians in the city. In 
1 74 1, when Dr. Thomas Graeme was superseded as Quarantine 
physician wherein he had served twenty years, Dr. Zachary 

^* Penn 6^ Logan Correspondence, i. 348. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 71 

was elected in his stead. When the new Hospital was 
opened in February, 1752 in John Kinsey's house on Market 
street, on the site of which Widow Masters built her mansion 
in 1 76 1, Dr. Zachary with the two Doctors Bond, and 
Graeme, Moore, Cadwalader and Redman were its first active 
physicians, bestowing their medicines free to its patients. The 
hospital received from his Aunt and Uncle Hannah and Richard 
Hill a valuable tract on the Ridge Road. He died unmarried 
25 November, 1756. His attendance at the Trustees meetings 
was more constant the first two years than later. He did not 
qualify under the Charter of 1755 ; as his place was filled 11 
January, 1757, by the election of Benjamin Chew. 

Franklin wrote the following expressive memorial notice of 
him for the Pennsylvania Gazette of 16 December, 1756: 

On the 26th past died here Doctor Lloyd Zachary, who in 
Sweetness of Temper, Politeness of Manners, and universal Benevo- 
lence, had few Equals, no Superiors. He was a Trustee of the 
Academy, and Charity School, and one of the first Subscribers, hav- 
ing given one Hundred Pound towards their Establishment. He was 
also an early Contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital, and one of 
the first Physicians who agreed to attend it gratis ; which he continued to 
do as long as his Health would permit. In his last Will he bequeathed 
Three Hundred and Fifty Pounds to that charitable Institution as a Means 
of continuing to do good after his Decease. An uncommonly great Num- 
ber of the Inhabitants testify' d their Respect for him, by attending his 
Funeral. 

Samuel M'Call, junior, as he was known by way of dis- 
tinction from his cousin Samuel M'Call, senior, who married his 
sister Anne, was born in Philadelphia, 5 October, 1721, the son 
of George M'Call, before mentioned as the father of the wife of 
John Inglis. He early engaged in mercantile life, inheriting 
his father's store and wharf, and taking his younger brother 
Archibald into partnership. He was a Common Councilman, 
being chosen 6 October, 1747, and with his brother-in- 
law John Inglis was on the Commission to audit the accounts of 
Pennsylvania claimants for losses sustained in their supplies to 
Braddock's expedition. He became a member of the St. 



72 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Andrew's Society in 175 1. With his brothers George and 
Archibald, and brothers-in-law Inglis and Plumsted, he joined in 
the petition to the Proprietaries i August, 1754 asking the grant 
of the lot at Third and Pine Streets for a church and yard for 
the use of members of the Church of England, whereon St. 
Peter's Church was afterwards erected. Mr. M'Call died in 
September, 1762. He had married in 1743 Anne, a daughter of 
Capt. John Searle. His eldest daughter Anne married Thomas 
Willing, himself also a Trustee in 1760, and eldest son of Charles 
Willing, one of the original Trustees of the Academy ; and 
Catherine married Tench Coxe the grandson of Tench Francis 
the Trustee. His brother Archibald's grandson, Peter M'Call, 
Esq., became a Trustee of the University in 1861.^^ 

Mr. M' Call's attendance at the Trustees' meetings was less 
regular in the years 1752, '53, and '54, than prior or subsequent, 
the last at which his name appears was on i May, 1760 when 
the Trustees attended the Commencement services of that day. 
He was succeeded by Dr. John Redman who was elected 14 
December, 1762. 

Joseph Turner, a native of Andover, Hampshire, England, 
was born 2 May, 1701, and came to America in January 17 14. 
He appears to have engaged in shipping, and we find him in 
1724 as the Captain of the ship Lovely. In 1726 he was one of 
those who signed to take the bills of credit of the Lower Counties 
at their face value. In 1729 he was elected a Common Council- 
man, and in 1741 an Alderman. He decUned election to the May- 
oralty in 1745, and submitted to the appropriate penalty of ^^"30. 
For nearly a half century he was in partnership in commercial 
business with William Allen, the house of Allen & Turner for a 
long time before the Revolutionary War being the mo.st promi- 
nent in the Colony; and they also engaged in the manufacture of 
iron, owning several mines in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He 
was a member of the Provincial Council, qualifying on 14 May, 
1747. He died 25 July, 1783, unmarried, leaving the bulk of 



'^^Pennsylvania Magazine, v. 471, in '^Ix.Yy^to.xi's Descendants of Jorafi 
Kyn, for reference to Mr. Mc Call's ancestry and kin. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 73 

his extensive property to the children of his sister Mary, who 
married Captain James Oswald, namely, Elizabeth who married 
Chief Justice Chew as his second wife, and Margaret who mar- 
ried Frederick Smythe, Chief Justice of New Jersey. Another 
sister of Joseph Turner married John Sims a merchant in Jamaica, 
and was the mother of Joseph and Buckridge Sims, eminent 
merchants of Philadelphia. There was a brother Peter, whose 
possessions in the Northern Liberties gave rise to the name of 
Turner's Lane when that road was opened, but it is now no more, 
the rectangular streets of modern municipal geography obliter- 
ating all traces of it. 

Mr. Turner's presence in the meetings of the Trustees was 
very constant up to 1762, when for some years long intervals 
occurred between his attendances, and the last time his name is 
entered as being present was on 23 July, 1769, the condition of 
His health forbidding him to continue his attendance. This con- 
tinued for another ten years when on 22 June, 1779, he wrote to 
the Trustees, "My advanced age and bodily infirmities not per- 
mitting my attendance as one of the Trustees of the College, 
Academy and charitable Schools of Philada., I think it my duty 
to resign a trust which I am no longer able to execute." This 
was accepted at a meeting on that day, and at the meeting on 
28 June, Mr. George Clymer, the Signer, was elected in his place, 
but the abrogation of the charter before the end of that year 
gave him a very brief Trust. 

Benjamin Franklin, •' who first projected the liberal plan 
of the institution over which we have the honor to preside," as 
the Provost, Vice Provost and Professors addressed him 16 Sep- 
tember, 1785 on his final return home from his manifold foreign 
duties, finds a place at this point in the list of the original Trus- 
tees. While a sketch is here attempted of the lives and actions, 
personal or professional or political, of his associates, but a brief 
one should be attempted in this place of the man whose Auto- 
biography has to this day remained unapproached in style or 
instruction by any who have attempted his Biography. Nor is 
it needed to record in these pages in any detail the doings and 



74 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

works of a man who has but one peer in his country's annals, so 
familiar are they to all who have any knowledge of its history. 
In previous pages some attempt has been made to mark the 
various important steps in his walk of life, each one seeming to 
establish him more firmly in general and useful knowledge as 
well also in local reputation and influence. A study of this won- 
derful progress of one from an alien in Philadelphia in 1723, 
in a quarter of a century to a commanding position in the com- 
munity, leaves no room to wonder how easy it was for him to 
draw around him for the furtherance of education in a new and 
liberal form men of the characters and influence whose lives 
are in a measure here portrayed, men who did not merely grant 
him the use of their names by which to manufacture a standing 
for the institution, but who gave their time to the meetings and 
committee work in a degree unusual to men who all were 
actively engaged in their own affairs, yet who made time to 
share with him in all its deliberations, and whose spirit of direct- 
ness and thoroughness so infused itself into their minds as to 
enable the institution to proceed with the same force during 
his various absences, unhappily continued however at a time 
when his calmness and skill might have averted the charter 
abrogation of 1779. 

We shall follow him in the coming years of his life, and 
give some heed to his political and diplomatic course as we pro- 
ceed in the narrative of the institution, which Mr. Matthew 
Arnold has happily named the University of Franklin.^'' For 
although new influences came with its counsels and strove for 
its mastery in but a few short years, to the extent of belittling 
his influence and clouding his title to its parentage, we must 
note his patience throughout all, and realise his continued 
interest in the institution, even to the last ; and must perforce 
step abreast of his own busy years at home or abroad, and keep 
alive that connection with our Commonwealth's and indeed our 
Nation's history his own close participation in both of which makes 

1' In his paper on " Foreign Education " which he read to a distinguished 
audience in the University Chapel, 8 June, 1886. Mr. Sidney George Fisher makes 
the like nomination in his True Benjamin Franklin, p 77, " it should have been 
called, Franklin University." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 75 

it all the more necessary for those to study who claim it as 
their Alma Mater. 

He had entitled himself among his fellow trustees bearing 
honored titles of rank or profession or of courtesy, simply as 
Printer ; this he claimed as his proper designation and of equal 
honor to his last days, his will reciting "I Benjamin Frankhn, 
Printer," in precedence of his further titles, " late Minister Pleni- 
potentiary from the United States of America to the Court of 
France, now President of the State of Pennsylvania," when he 
wrote it on 17 July, 1788. Having a competency by his success 
in business, he had retired from the active work of his calling in 
September 1748, disposing of his printing estabHshment to 
David Hall, his foreman, on favorable terms to both, which were 
to be met by Hall within the term of eighteen years during 
which it was to be carried on in the names of Franklin 
and Hall, the former assisting in the editing of the Gazette 
and his Poor Richard's Almanac. But through all his changes 
and diversities of labors, he clung with tenacity and in honor to 
his cognomen of Printer. 

The leisure he gained by this made no contribution to any 
personal idleness ; he simply turned his activities into more 
congenial channels of science or education or philanthropy, or 
indeed politics. His electrical pursuits, begun in 1747, continued 
unremittingly over a series of years ; ^^ his Academy and Charit- 
able School of 1749 opened up still further opportunities for 



^^ These earlier experiments of Franklin were carried on in the house built 
by John Wister, No. 141 (now 325) Market street in 1731. " It was in this house 
that Dr. Franklin made his first attempt to ' snatch the lightning from Heaven ' 
and guide it harmlessly to the earth. With this object he here erected his first 
lightning rod, an hexagonal iron rod, still in our possession, connecting it with a 
bell which gave the alarm whenever the atmosphere was surcharged with electric 
fluid. The ringing of this bell so annoyed my grandmother that it was removed at 
her request." Memoir of Charles y. Wister^ by his son, 1866, vol i. pp. 21, t^t,. 
John Wister's son, Daniel, who was born 4 February, 1738-39, was a pupil at 
the Academy 1 752- 1 754, as was also his cousin Caspar in 1752. Watson tells us 
that in 1750 Franklin owned and was dwelling in the house at the South East 
corner of Race and Second Streets. Annals i. 532-33. 

The earliest residence of Franklin's family known to us was in the building 
owned by Benjamin Hornoron Market Street above Front, now No. 131, where some 
of Mr. Hornor's living descendants recollect being shown in their early years traces 
then remaining of Franklin's printing work. See Family Memorials by Miss Mary 
Coates, Philadelphia 1885, p. 60. It was here that Franklin writes to Thomas Hop- 
kinson, in 1747 : " The din of the Market increases upon me, and that, with frequent 



76 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

his time and thought; and the new Hospital in 1752, in which his 
fellow trustees in the Academy, the two Bonds, Zachary, and 
Shippen were the great promoters, found him a willing and ready 
coadjutor, as we in the same year find him lending his counten- 
ance and aid to the honored Friend, John Smith, who founded 
the first Insurance Company formed in the Colonies, the Phila- 
delphia Contributionship. He tells us :^^ 

When I disengaged myself from private business, I flatter' d myself 
that by the sufficient tho' moderate fortune I had acquir'd, I had secured 
leisure during the rest of my life for philosophical studies and amusements. 
I purchased all Dr. Spencer's apparatus, who had come from England to 
lecture here, and I proceeded in my electrical experiments with great 
alacrity; but the publick now considering me as a man of leisure, laid 
hold of me for their purposes ; every part of our civil government, and 
almost at the same time, imposing some duty upon me. The governor 
put me into the commission of peace, [in 1749 and again in 1752] the 
corporation of the city chose me one of the common council [4 October, 
1748] ; and soon after Alderman [i October, 1751] ; and the citizens at large 
chose me a burgess to represent them in Assembly [1750]. * * * My 
election to this trust was repeated every year for ten years without my ever 
asking any elector for his vote, or signifying, either directly or indirectly, 
any desire of being chosen. On taking my seat in the House, my son was 
appointed their clerk. * * -x- * i would not, however, insinuate, that 
my ambition was not flattered by all these promotions ; it certainly was ; 
for, considering my low beginning, they were great things to me and they 
were still more pleasing as being so many spontaneous testimonies of the 
public good opinion, and by me entirely unsolicited. 

His first hearing on the Bench in the case of William vs. 
Till, (noted later) he was associated with Thomas Lawrence, 
Edward Shippen and Joshua Maddox, two of whom were to 
become his co-trustees in the Academy before this year was out. 

The office of justice of the peace I tried a httle, by attending a few 
courts, and sitting on the bench to hear causes ; but finding that more 

interruptions, has, I find, made me say some things twice over, and I suppose, forget 
some others." Bigelow, ii. 103. 

I n 1 764 he built on his lot on the South side of Market Street between Third and 
Fourth Streets, the house standing southwards from the line of the street nigh where 
Hudson Place now bisects the block; this is the "new house" Mrs. Franklin speaks 
of in the letter to her husband 7 April, 1765, Bigelow, iii. 374, and where he resided 
the remainder of his years. For a description of these premises and the Mansion 
and printing offices see Scharf & Wescott's History of Philadelphia, I. 460, for 
.a letter from Robert Carr to John A. McAllister written 25 May, 1864. 

1^ Bigelow. i. 227. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. ji 

knowledge of the Common Law than I possessed was necessary to act in that 
station with credit, I gradually withdrew from it; excusing myself by being 
obliged to attend the higher duties of a legislator in the Assembly. ^"^ 

He was on 3 September, 1776, appointed Presiding Judge 
of the Court of Common Pleas, and in October, 1785, while 
President Supreme Executive Council was appointed President 
Judge ; but there is no certainty of his ever sitting. Gordon 
says of him, in connection with his Assembly duties : 

His active, comprehensive, and discriminating mind qualified him 
at all times to lead in a popular body; but his knowledge of provincial 
affairs at once placed him at the head of the assembly, and caused him tO' 
be appointed upon every important committee. ^^ 

His rank as a Philosopher was earned by his success and 
discoveries in Electricity which had begun about this period in 
his life. Mr. Peter CoUinson, a member of the Royal Society, 
who had been commissioned to send books to the Philadelphia 
Library, sent out early in 1747 an " electric tube with directions 
for using it," which Franklin in acknowledging it said "has put 
several of us on making electrical experiments, in which we 
have observed some particular phenomena, that we look upon to 
be new." His friends referred to were Hopkinson, Syng and 
Kinnersley, the latter of whom in 1753 became the Head Master 
of the English School connected with the Academy, and in 
1755 was chosen Professor of Oratory and English Literature in 
the College. In writing to Mr. Collinson 29 July, 1750 he says : 

as you first put us on electrical experiments, by sending to our Library 
Company a tube, with directions how to use it ; and as an honorable 
Proprietary enabled us to carry those experiments to a greater height, by his- 
generous present of a complete electrical apparatus ; it is fit that both 
should know, from time to time, what progress we make. 

These experiments unfolded new ideas, and new forces were 
discovered in the Electrical Fire, and Franklin's correspondence 
abroad detailing them to Collinson and others, though not at 
first heeded in regular Scientific circles in England, found a 



^^ " In the days of the Province nearly all the Justices, both of the Common 
Pleas and the Supreme Court, Franklin excepted, were merchants." David Paul 
Brown, Fonwi, \. 256. 

'^^ History of Penii' a. Thomas F. Gordon, 268. 



78 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

warm welcome in France and on the Continent. To enter here 
upon them with any description would open a most entertaining 
chapter in Franklin's life, but indulgence can only be given to a 
summary of their results as placing Franklin's name at the head 
of the practical discoverers of the sources and powers of this 
wonderful natural force, which we one hundred and thirty years 
later are just beginning to chain to our will and utilize in all 
our practical arts.^^ 

Dr. Priestly says of Franklin's records of his discoveries : 

it is not easy to say, whether we are most pleased with the simplicity and 
perspicuity with which these letters are' written, the modesty with which 
the author proposes every hypothesis of his own, or the noble frankness 
with which he relates his mistakes, when they were corrected by subse- 
quent experiments. * * * Dr. Franklin's principles bid fair to be handed 
down to posterity as equally expressive of the true principles of electricity, 
as the Newtonian philosophy is of the true system of nature in general. 

Before Priestley wrote this, Kinnersley had written to 
Franklin 12 March, 1761 : 

I most heartily congratulate you on the pleasure you must have in 
finding your great and well grounded expectations so far fulfilled. May 
this method of security [referring to the lightning rod] from the destruc- 
tive violence of one of the most awful powers of nature meet with such 
further success, as to induce every good and grateful heart to bless God for 
the important discovery. * * * May it extend to the latest posterity 
of mankind, and make the name of Franklin hke that of Newton 
immortal. 

To which Franklin refers in his letter from London 20 
February, 1762, in conclusion " Your kind wishes and congratu- 
lations are very obliging." ^^ 

This reference to the lightning rod is to Franklin's happy 
experiment with his kite in June 1752, in the open fields not far 
from his residence, by which he drew lightning from the clouds, 
establishing his theory that under some circumstances of pecu- 
liar attraction the electric fluid could be drawn to earth.^* His 
theories had been known abroad, and the " Philadelphia expen- 



se Bigelow, ii. 59. ^sibjd, Hi. 178. 

^* See his Communication of 19 October, 1752, in the Getitleman^s Magazine, 
for December, 1752, p. 560. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 79 

ment" had been successful in France in May of that year, 
M. DaHbard drawing electricity from a thunder cloud by a 
pointed rod. When the tidings of this reached America, Frank- 
lin had not publicly announced his success with the silken kite, 
and it was not until 19 October following in a letter to Peter 
Collinson he wrote, 

as frequent mention is made in public papers from Europe, of the 
success of the Philadelphia experiment for drawing the electric fire from 
clouds by means of pointed rods of iron erected on high buildings, &c., it 
may be agreeable to the curious to be informed, that the same experiment 
has succeeded in Philadelphia, though made in a different and more easy 
manner ; 

and he then proceeds to a description of his June experiment, 
though in an entirely impersonal manner. ^^ This letter was read 
at the Royal Society on 3 1 December following, and in the fol- 
lowing November he was granted by the Society the Copley 
Medal for that year " on account of his curious experiments 
and observations on electricity, as a mark of distinction due to 
his unquestionable merit;" and on 29 April, 1756, he was 
elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

The Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley, alike interested in these 
studies, gave public exhibitions of many of these experiments, 
and quite reasonably at the time was granted to him by the 
public the meed of praise as their discoverer; but Franklin's 
correspondence, now all brought to light, shows their letters, and 
the relative claims of the two to distinction in the premises can 
be properly measured. Franklin took the scientific into his 
confidence rather than the curious public. But traces of Frank- 
lin's observations can be found from time to time in the news 
columns (so-called) of the Pennsylvania Gazette, where frequent 
record is made of instances of the destructive power of light- 
ning which had been reported to him, doubtless in answer to 
his request, published in the Gazette of 21 June, 1753, namely: 

Those of our Readers in this and the neighboring Provinces, who 



25 Bigelow, ii. 262. On Franklin's Lightning Rod vide Dr. Andrew D. White's 
History of the Warfare of Science and Theology, i. 365, for an interesting statement 
of the early opposition it engendered, and of its practical usefulness winning its way 
among its theological opponents. 



8o History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

may have an opportunity of observing, during the present Summer, any of 
the Effects of Lightning on Houses, Ships, Trees, &c., are requested to 
take particular Notice of its Course, and Deviation from a Straight Line, in 
the Walls or other Matter affected by its different Operations, or Effects on 
Wood, Stone, Bricks, Glass, Metals, Animal Bodies, &c., and every other 
Circumstance that may tend to discover the Nature and compleat the His- 
tory of that terrible Meteor. Such observations being put in writing and 
communicated to Betijainin Franklin in Philadelphia, will be very thank- 
fully acknowledged. 

In April, 175 i, Mr. Kinnersley gives"*' "Notice to the Curi- 
ous " of a " course of Experiments in the newly discovered 
Electric Fire," adding at foot " the experiments succeed best 
when the air is dry ; " and " to be accompanied with Methodical 
Lectures on the Nature and Properties of that wonderfnl ele- 
ment." Three years later, he gave for the " Entertainment 
of the Curious " " in one of the chambers of the Academy, a 
course of experiments in that new Branch of Natural Philosophy 
called Electricity." And as the " modern Prometheus," as 
Kant had now called him, had drawn the fire down from Heaven, 
Kinnersley adds an expostulatory paragraph in his Advertise- 
ment, " and as some are apt to doubt the Lawfulness of endeav- 
oring to guard against Lightning, it will be farther shewn, that the 
doing it, in the Manner proposed, cannot possibly be chargeable 
with Presumption, nor be inconsistent with any of the Principles 
either of Natural or Revealed Religion. ^^ This good Baptist 
Minister did not recognise any divorce between Religion and 
Science. 

When Franklin was sent out in 1757 on a political errand 
to represent his adopted colony at the home government, his 
reception in England was that due to a savant rather than a 
politician. Local politics in their intensity found but little room 
for the recognition of those high scientific attainments which 
gave a warmth to the welcome, which otherwise would have been 
a cold one, to a protesting colonist. 

Franklin's attendance at the meetings of the Trustees of the 
Academy and College was constant and regular, his first absence 



'-'^Pennsylvania Gazette^ II April, 1751. "Ibid, 26 March, 1754. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 8i 

being at the meeting of August 1751,^^ and there was but one 
absence to note in 1752, " when the Trustees visited the Schools, 
but did no other business," the year of his most interesting elec- 
trical experiments ; the year 1753 shows absence from only three 
regular meetings in the summer of his first duty as Postmaster 
General which engaged him in his travels to the Eastward, 
besides his two Indian Missions ; in 1754 his absences were 
more notable, due largely to his visit to Albany with the Com- 
missioners ; in 1755 being early in the year absent on a visit to 
New England, and later engaged in aiding Braddock^^ his name 
.does not appear in two of the regular meetings; in 1756 his 
absence was more notable owing to his frequent journeys from 
home. Visiting Virginia on his post office duties in the Spring he 
received from William and Mary College in person on 2 April 
the degree of A.M., " conferred upon him by the Rev G. Daw- 
son, A.M., President, to whom he was in public presented by the 
Rev. Wm Preston A.M." ^^ On his return from there early in 
June we find him at the close of the month in New York, and in 
November at Easton attending an Indian Conference. In April 
1757, he sailed on his first foreign mission to the mother coun- 
try. Arriving home in November, 1762, he resumes his attend- 
ance at the meetings, but in 1763 he was frequently absent, his 
public duties withdrawing him from other concerns ; and in 
November, 1764, he set sail for London on his second mission. 
He was elected the first president of the Board of Trustees, being 
succeeded by Richard Peters who was elected 11 May, 1756. 
The minutes give us no indication of the cause of his declining 
a re-election at this time : his journey to Albany in the previous 
year, his absences now from the first five meetings of the cur- 
rent year, may be indications of his accumulating public duties, 
but there were thus early developing some of those causes 



^^ His absence from a meeting of the Common Council that day, also, would 
show that absence from the city was the cause. 

23 Bigelow, ii. 414. Sparks, vii. 85. '■ Since my return, I have been in such 
a perpetual hurry of public affairs of various kinds," he writes II Sept. 1755. Paxton, 
i. 342. 

^"Faculty Proceedings, Historical Sketch of the College of William and Mary, 
p. 42. He writes to his wife from Williamsburg, 30 March, 1756: " Virginia is a 
pleasant country ; now in full spring ; the people obliging'and polite." Bigelow, ii. 458. 



82 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

which were working to take the institution not only further out 
of the practical lines he had in the outset marked for its 
course, but also to make it more agreeable to the political party to 
which he was opposed. He attended the regular meeting sub- 
sequent to Dr. Peters election ; but infrequently afterwards, and 
in the April following as stated before, he sailed for England. 
The heat of local politics may have fused some antagonisms 
which served to counteract his influence in the Board, and indi- 
cated for the welfare of the College that some one identified with 
the Proprietary interest should preside over their deliberations, 
and who so fitting as the constant churchman and faithful Secre- 
tary Richard Peters, whose election if any other was to be 
chosen could not but be acceptable to his friend Franklin. 

Thomas Leech was the son of Toby and Hester Leech of 
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, who came to America in the year 
1682, and settled in Cheltenham township, now in Montgomery 
County. They are buried in Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadel- 
phia, the inscription on their joint stone being quoted by the 
Rev. Dr. Buchanan in his Early History of Trinity Church. ^^ 
Thomas Leech was clerk to the Assembly from 1723 to 1727, 
and a representative of Philadelphia County for nearly thirty 
years, and was Speaker pro tem in 1758 "in the room of Isaac 
Norris, who fell sick." In the controversy in the assembly over 
Judge Moore's case, which must be reviewed in later pages on 
account of Provost Smith's part in it, Mr. Leech was an active 
participant, and was Chairman of the committee which framed 
the address to the Governor asking Moore's removal. He was 
a Vestryman of Christ Church for many years, and Warden in 
1728 and again in 1746-47. He was with his fellow Trustees, 
Lawrence and Peters, signer of the letter of 23 April, 1741, 
from the Vestry of Christ Church to the Bishop of London 
announcing the death of the Rector, Rev. Archibald Cummings. 
And we find him in 1760 joining with many of his fellow trus- 

^1 Tivo Discourses, &c., Philadelphia, 1885, p. 108. Their second son John 
born in Philadelphia shortly after their arrival was said to have been the first male 
child born here of English parents : Old York Road and its Early Associations, 
Philadelphia, 1890, p. 67. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 83 

tees, viz: Allen, Masters, M'Call, Syng, Willing, Taylor, the 
two Bonds, Plumsted, and Coleman, on a subscription for 
restoring the Glebe House of Oxford Parish which had been 
destroyed by fire. He was a very regular attendant on the 
meetings of the Trustees until within two or three years of his 
death which occurred 31 March, 1762, his last attendance being 
on 28 November, 1761. At the meeting of 8 June, 1762, Mr. 
Lyn-Ford Lardner was elected to succeed him. He married in 
1722, Ann Moore, and had two sons, Thomas and William. The 
Pennsylvajiia Gazette of 8 April, 1762, thus records his 
obituary: 

On the 31st ulto in the Evening, departed this Life, Thomas Leech, 
Esq, in the 77th year of his age ; and in the afternoon of the Sunday fol- 
lowing was interred in St. Paul's Church in this city, where a Sermon 
suitable to the occasion, was preached by the Reverend Mr. William 
M'Clanachan, A. M. and Minister of that Church, to a crowded and 
weeping Audience. He was a citizen, not more distinguished for the 
Honour conferred on him, in several Offices of Public Trust (which he 
discharged for a long series of Years, with the approbation of his country) 
than for his amiable and familiar virtues in 

the mild Majesty of private Life 
where he shone as a practical Philosopher, and a sincere Christian, 
abounding with unaffected Goodness and exemplary Piety, and a most 
rare Pattern of that ancient Simplicity which so beautifully characterised 
the first Fathers of our Metropolis ; so that the words of the Poet may, 
with the greatest Propriety, be applied to him. 

' Born to no Pride, inheriting no strife, ' 
But led by Virtue through the Paths of life ; 
' Stranger to Discord, and to civil Rage 
The good Man walked innoxious thro' his Age 
No Courts he saw, no Suits would ever try, 
Nor said an Oath, nor hazarded a Lye.' 



84 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Doctor William Shippen was born in Philadelphia i Octo- 
ber, 17 1 2, the son of Joseph Shippen, a native of Boston, who 
moved to Philadelphia about 1704, and who became in 1727 
one of Franklin's Junto. He was the son of Edward Shippen, 
who was named by William Penn in his charter of 25 October, 
1 701, as the first Mayor thereunder of the City of Philadelphia,^^ 
and who was President of the Council, 1702—04, and in May, 
1703, became the actual head of the government until Governor 
Evans arrival in December following. Joseph's connection with 
the Junto shows him to have been a man inclined to self improve- 
ment, and whose leisure enabled him to pursue any special line 
of study. His eldest son Edward, William's senior by nine 
years, entered mercantile life under James Logan, and later was 
in business with him as Logan & Shippen, and in 1749 with 
Thomas Lawrence, one of the College Trustees, as Shippen and 
Lawrence; he was also Mayor of the City in 1744, and after- 
wards Judge of the Common Pleas. In 1748, he was one of 
the founders of Princeton College and one of its first Trustees, 
which he remained until his resignation in 1767 and was a sub- 
scriber to the Philadelphia Academy, of which his brother 
William was now one of the first trustees. William- himself 
became a Trustee of Princeton College in 1765 which he 
remained until his resignation in 1796. His tastes for scientific 
pursuits were fostered by his father, and an early inclination for 
the study of medicine developed the rare talent he possessed 
for a successful practice of it, by which he attained a high 
reputation and secured an extensive business which remained to 
him through his long life. But diligent as he was in his' profes- 
sional duties, and reliant as he was in the medical knowledge of 
his day for the cure of all the ills that flesh is heir to, the story 
is told of him that on occasion of his being complimented by a 
friend on the number of cures he effected, he replied, " My friend, 
Nature does a great deal, and the grave covers up our mistakes." 
He was sensible of the necessity of more education than could 



32 

charter of 
Development 



Humphrey Morrey was the first Mayor of the City of Philadelphia under the 
f 1 691. See Allison & Penrose, Philadelphia,- a History of Municipal 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 85 

be had in the colonies, and when he found his son William 
intending the same profession, he sent him to Europe when he 
was twenty one years of age, and in 1761 the latter received his 
degree of Doctor in Medicine at Edinburgh, and four years later 
we find his election in the minutes of the Trustees as the 
first Professor of Anatomy and Surgery in the new medical 
school of the college. Doctor William Shippen, Senior, as he 
now became known on his son's rising reputation, found his 
name worthily reproduced in his son, who added fresh honors 
and dignity to it. 

Dr. Shippen interested himself in public affairs, and foresaw 
the coming shadows of the Revolution. On 20 November, 1778, 
when these shadows were the heaviest, he was elected a member 
of the Continental Congress by the Assembly of Pennsylvania, 
and was re-elected in the November following. He retained an 
interest in his father's associations and was Vice President in 
1768 of the American Philosophical Society, the child of the 
Junto. He was one of the first members of the Medical Staff 
of the Pennsylvania Hospital, from 175 3-1 778 ; and one of the 
founders of the Second Presbyterian Church and a member of 
it for sixty years. His life was serene and useful ; and posses- 
sing a temper calm and equable, and the affection of all who 
knew him, he died 4 November, 1801, in the ninetieth year of 
his age.^^ He retained his trusteeship in the College until the 
abrogation of the charter in 1779, and was made one of the 
Trustees of the new institution created in its place, the University 
of the State of Pennsylvania, which he remained until 1786. 
His attendance at the meetings of the Trustees testifies to his 
interest in the institution, as his absences were very few ; and 
the action of the Trustees were often influenced by his sage 
counsel, though for two years from April, 1761, he did not 
attend, and most of the meetings in 1764 and 1765 he missed. 

Dr. Shippen married 19 September, 1735, Susannah daugh- 
ter of Joseph Harrison of Philadelphia, who died some years 



^^ His mode of life was simple and it was said that up to his final illness he 
had never tasted wine nor spirits. His temper was never ruffled and his benevolence 
was without stint. Dr. Morton's History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, p. 489. 



86 History of the University of. Pennsylvania. 

before him. His sons William andrjosephjwere graduates of 
Princeton, 1754 and 1758. The latter also studied medicine 
under his father, and going abroad for further studies, took his 
degree at the University of Rheims. Dr. Shippen's nephew, 
Joseph, the son of his elder brother Joseph, was a graduate of 
the college in 1761. His sister Anne was wife of Charles 
Willing, his fellow trustee. 

Robert Strettell was born in Dublin in 1693 the son of 
Amos Strettell, a native of Cheshire who had moved to Ireland 
about fifteen years before this. Robert left Dublin as a young 
man to try his fortune in London, where he passed about twenty 
years of his life, but losing his property in the South Sea Bubble, 
he came to America about 1736 to retrieve his affairs. He soon 
took an active part in public concerns, and was one of the 
Friends who favored Logan's views as to the needs of the Province 
to defend itself against foreign enemies. He was invited by 
Governor Thomas to the Council, and he qualified 14 December, 
1741. He became an Alderman in 1748, and Mayor in Octo- 
ber 175 I, and on the close of the latter term, instead of giving 
the customary collation, contributed ^75. to the Public Build- 
ing. In council he was an active member, and supported the 
more warlike members during the French War. He died in 
June 1 76 1, and was buried in the Friends Ground. He married 
in 1 7 16 Philotesia daughter of Nathaniel Owen of Seven Oaks, 
Kent. Of their children, Frances married Isaac Jones who 
was a Trustee of the College and Academy in 1771 ; Amos 
succeeded to his father's interest in provincial politics and in the 
Trusteeship of the College and married a daughter of Samuel 
Hasell the Councillor ; John became an opulent merchant 
in London ; and Robert died before his father. 

Mr. Strettell v/as not behind his fellows in their attendance 
on the meetings of the Trust ; his last years of service found 
him less able to attend with regularity. The last meeting at 
which his name appears was 31 March, 1760 ; and at the meet- 
ing of 8 June, 1762, his son Mr. Amos Strettell was elected a 
Trustee, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 87 

Philip Syng was born in Ireland in November 1703 the son 
of Philip Syng, who with his son arrived at Annapolis, Md. in Sep- 
tember 1 7 14, and who there died in 1739. The son had before 
this settled in Philadelphia, as we find him in the Franklin circle, 
a member of the Junto and in 1731 one of the first Directors of 
the new Library Company, He acquired a high reputation as 
a silver-smith, his skill being shown by several works of art yet 
in existence,, one being an inkstand made by him in 1752 for the 
General Assembly of Pennsylvania, and used by the Conti- 
nental Congress while in Philadelphia, and at the signing of the 
Declaration of Independence, and yet preserved in the Hall to 
which the latter gave its name. He engraved the first seal for 
the Library Company. He was a member of the noted " Fish- 
ing Company of the State in Schuylkill" as it was called. He 
was one of the Associators of 1747; a Vestryman of Christ 
Church from 1747 to 1749 ; and a signer of the Non Importation 
Resolutions of 1765. He was devoted to scientific pursuits, 
and the developments of the times in the use and force of Elec- 
tricity were aided by his experiments and discoveries, and Frank- 
lin made acknowledgment of the aid he had furnished him in 
many of his experiments. In a note to his letter of 1 1 July, 
1747 to Mr. Collinson, Franklin refers to certain experiments 
" by means of little, light windmill wheels made of stiff paper 
vanes" as "made and communicated to me by my worthy and 
ingenious friend Mr Philip Syng ;" and of another experiment, 
thus, " His simple, easily made machine was a contrivance of 
Mr. Syng's."^* Franklin could appreciate the ingenuity of such 
a skilful craftsman. He lived to a great age, and dying 8 May, 
1789, was buried in Christ Church Burying Ground. One of his 
daughters married Edmund Physick and became the mother of 



^* Bigelow, ii. 66. He writes Franklin the following letter : 

Philadelphia, March i, 1766. 

Dear Sir — I received yours of 26th of September last with your very agreeable 
Present Doctor Lewis's new Work. You judged very right that I should find in it 
entertaining Particulars in ray Way — the Management of Gold & Silver is treated of 
in it better & more particularly than I have met with in any Author. 

The regard you have always shewn me requires my acknowledgment, which 
I wish to make by serviceable Actions, because they speak louder than Words, but I 
fear I shall be insolvent. The Junto fainted last Summer in the hot Weather and 



88 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Philip Syng Physick, a graduate in 1785 of the University, for 
whom the Chair of Surgery was created in 1805, which he 
filled until 18 19 when he took the Chair of Anatomy in which 
he continued until 1831. The name of Philip Syng was borne 
to a later generation by this worthy descendant who has been 
called the Father of American Surgery, 

Mr. Syng's attendance on the meetings of the Trustees 
was very constant up to the time of Franklin's departure on his 
first mission; but from 14 June, 175710 12 May, 1769 he attended 
but four meetings these inclusive ; and this last attendance may 
have been due to a Minute of the meeting of 8 May previous, 

viz : 

Dr. Smith is desired to wait upon Mr. Philip Syng to ask him 
whether he will be pleased to attend the future meetings of the Trustees, 
as the Business of the College suffers greatly for want of a regular attend- 
ance of the members ; Mr. Syng in particular, not having attended more 
than once or twice for several years. If Mr. Syng should mention any 
particular Inconvenience in his attending the Duty of a Trustee, it is 
desired that he may be asked whether it would be agreeable to him that 
another should be chosen in his Room. 

However, nothing was done, nor did Mr. Syng again 
attend, until at the meeting of 8 June, 1773 notice was given of 
" a new Trustee being wanted in the Room of Mr. Philip Syng 
who has removed with his Family to more than five Miles Dis- 
tance from the City;" when at the meeting of 15 June Mr. 
Samuel Powel was elected. He was a member of St. John's 
Lodge in 1734, Junior Grand Warden in 1737, Deputy Grand 
Master in 1738, and Grand Master in 1741. 

Charles Willing was born in Bristol, England, 18 May, 
1 7 10, the son of Thomas Willing, a merchant of that city, who 
brought the son to Philadelphia about the year 1828. A cousin 
of the father, also a Thomas Willing, founded and laid out Wil- 



has not yet reviv'd, your Presence might reanimate it, without which I apprehend it 
will never recover. 

I am dear Sir your affectionate Friend and oblig'd Humble Serv't, Phil Syng. 
Addressed : To Benjamin Franklin, Esq, Postmaster general of North Ainerica in 
London, pr Capt Sparks. — MS letter with the American Philosophical Soc'y. The 
gift referred to was doubtless the Commercium Philosophico-technicum, in its new 
and last edition, of Dr. William Lewis, who died in 1786. Allibone. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 89 

ling's Town now Wilmington, Delaware, Charles entered into 
mercantile business and took charge of the house his elder 
brother Thomas, who returned to England, had founded in 
1726. He was successful in his operations and speculations, 
and established a credit at home and abroad which redounded 
to the welfare and influence of his adopted city. He was very 
active in the formation of the Philadelphia Associators in 1747, 
and must here have been much with Franklin in his efforts to 
make this defensive association a success. He was Mayor of 
the City in 1748, and again in 1754, dying 30 November, 1754, 
of ship fever contracted it is said whilst in the discharge of 
some of his official duties. Mr. Willing married 21 January, 
173 1, Anne, daughter of Joseph Shippen, son of the Councillor, 
and sister of WilHam Shippen, M. D., the Elder, a Trustee. Of his 
children, his eldest son Thomas became a Trustee in 1 760, 
and in 1761 a Justice of the Supreme Court, and married Anne, 
daughter of Samuel M'Call junior, also a Trustee, and was 
father of Thomas Mayne Willing a Trustee of the University in 
1800, and of Anne who married William Bingham, a Trustee 
in 1789 ; Anne, married Tench Francis, son of Tench Francis a 
Trustee ; Mary, married Col. William Byrd of Westover, Vir- 
ginia ; Elizabeth, married Samuel Powel, a Trustee in 1773 5 
and Margaret, married to Robert Hare, a Trustee in 1789, and 
became the mother of Charles Wilhng Hare, whose son Rev. 
George Emlen Hare, D. D. was Assistant Professor of the Greek 
and Latin Languages in the University in 1844, and of Dr. 
Robert Hare, Professor of Chemistry in the University from 
18 18 to 1848, whose son John Innes Clark Hare, a graduate of 
the University in 1834, was a Trustee in 1858, resigning in 1868, 
to take the Professorship of the Institute of Law which he held 
until 1889, when he became Emeritus Professor, 

The following obituary notice by Franklin of Mr. Willing 
appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 5 December, 1754. 
The portion which is a quotation, is by the Rev. William Smith, 

Last Saturday, after a short Illness, departed this Life, in the 45th 
Year of his age, Charles Willing, Esq^-e ; Mayor of this City. As it may 
be truly said that this Community had not a more useful Member, his 



90 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Death is justly lamented as a public Loss to his country, as well as an 
almost irretrievable Loss to his Family and Friends. 

In the Character of a Magistrate, he was patient, indefatigable, and 
actuated by a Steady Zeal for Justice. As a Merchant, it was thought that 
no Person amongst us understood Commerce in General, and the trading 
Interests of this Province in particular, better than he, and his Success in 
Business was proportionably Great. As a Friend, he was faithful, candid 
and sincere. As a Husband and Parent few ever exceeded him in Tender- 
ness and Affection. Being himself a sincere Christian, he was strictly 
attentive to the Education of his children in every virtuous Qualification, 
and in a particular Manner he was remarkable in the Discharge of that 
essential part of a Parent's Duty, so little considered, — a regular attend- 
ance, together with his numerous Family, on the public Worship of God. 
And for this accordingly, they will now have Reason to bless his Memory ; 
since the Impression, thereby received, will go farther to teach them how 
to bear their present heavy Affliction, and recommend them to the Favor 
of the World {degenerate as it is) than all the external Advantages — all the 
Fortune, Graces, and Good Nature he has left them possessed of. 

Mr. Smith also supplied an "Ode to the Memory of Charles 
Willing, Esq.," of which the first Stanza is 

Once more I seek the cypress shade, 
To weave a garland for the dead, 

Alone, dejected, wan ! 
Shall Willing quit this mortal strife. 
And not a verse show him, in life 
And death — an honest Man ? 

Mr. Willing gave much attendance to the meetings of the 
Trustees, with only an interval from July 1750 to November, 
175 I. The last he attended was on 17 September 1754. At 
the meeting of 1 1 February, 1755, Mr. Alexander Stedman was 
elected to fill the vacancy made by his death. 

Doctor Phineas Bond was born in Maryland in 171 7, the 
younger brother of Dr. Thomas Bond, also a Trustee. He was, 
as well as his brother educated in his native state, and pursued 
his studies during foreign travel, visiting at length Leyden, 
Paris, Edinburgh and London for this purpose. He did not 
devote himself to surgery as did his brother ; but Dr. Thacher 
says of him "no medical man of his time in this country left 
behind him a brighter character for professional sagacity, or the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 91 

amiable qualities of the heart." He shared with his brother 
many of his tastes for scientific and philosophic pursuits, and 
was under Franklin's lead one of the organizers of the American 
Philosophical Society ; Franklin writes to Cadwallader Colden 
on 5 April, 1744, " I can now acquaint you, that the Society, as 
far as it relates to Philadelphia, is actually formed, and has had 
several meetings to mutual satisfaction." And in enumerating^ 
the members he describes Dr. Phineas Bond as General Natural 
Philosopher, and Dr. Thomas Bond — who heads his list — as 
Physician.^^ His interest also in public affairs was evidenced by 
being a member of Common Council from 1747 until his death. 
He married 4 August, 1748, Williamina daughter of Wil- 
ham Moore of Moore Hall, Chester County, Penn'a, her younger- 
sister Rebecca marrying Dr. William Smith, the Provost of the 
College in 1759. Dr. Bond's eldest son, Phineas, ^^ was a 
loyalist during the Revolution, and later was made British 
Consul at Philadelphia, which he remained for several years at 
the end of the last and the beginning of this century ; he died in 
London 29 December, 181 5. Of Dr. Bond's daughters, Williamina 
married General John Cadwalader who became a Trustee of the 
College in 1779, and Elizabeth married John Travis of Phila- 
delphia. Dr. Bond died 11 June, 1773, and he was buried in 
Christ Church Burying Ground, where a simple stone marks the- 
last resting place of " Doctor Phineas Bond, Esq. " His 
attendance at the Trustees meetings was frequent to the last, 
with sometimes only intervals of a few months. His last attend- 
ance was on I January, 1773. On the 18 June following, Mr. 
Thomas Mifflin was elected his successor. An obituary to him 
in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 14 June, 1773 recites : "Early on 
Friday morning last, to the inexpressible grief of all who knew 
him, departed this life in his fifty-sixth year, Dr. Phineas Bond, 
a gentleman long and justly acknowledged to be of the first 
eminence in his profession." 



^^Bigelow, ii. I. 

^^ A letter from Deborah Franklin of introduction to her husband of young 
Phineas Bond, dated il Octo., 1770, is given in the Pennsylvania Magazine, v. 510. 



92 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Richard Peters, was born in Liverpool about 1704, the 
son of Ralph Peters, town clerk of that place. He was sent 
when quite young to Westminster School, where he finished 
before he was fifteen years of age. Instead of going to Oxford, 
his parents sent him to Leyden, and on his return to England 
he undertook the study of law, although against his will, for he 
had an inclination to take orders. He was five years in the 
Inner Temple, but his predilections for the ministry increasing 
with time, his father finally consented to his taking orders and 
he was ordained by the Bishop of Winchester 20 September, 
1729, Deacon, and was ordained Priest 24 March, 1730. 
He became curate at Latham Chapel in the parish of Ormskirk, 
and subsequently became tutor of two young wards and kins- 
men of the Earl of Derby, and lived with the latter until July, 
1735. A youthful marriage which he contracted while at 
Westminster school, but which was not consummated, with a 
domestic, was the cause of his going to Leyden instead of 
Oxford ; but the woman was supposed to have died about 1733, 
and he married in 1734 Miss Stanley, sister of his pupils. But 
within a few months, the information of the death of the woman 
having proven unfounded, he left England and his wife and 
came to Bristol, Pennsylvania, the residence of Andrew Ham- 
ilton's wife, whose first husband, Preeson, had been a maternal 
relative of his. He became assistant to the Rev. Archibald 
Cummings at Christ Church. 

But in a brief space, dissensions arose between him and 
his Rector, and eventually the Bishop of London suspended his 
license. However, the Vestry showed their estimation of him 
in their letter of 28 July, 1737, to the Bishop, "though this 
gentleman," they say, 

for reasons which we humbly beg leave to say appear to us to be just, has 
thought fit to decline continuing to give his assistance * * * yet it is 
true that, during the time he has exercised his ministerial function in this 
city, he has given great satisfaction in general to our congregation, and 
has been of real service to the Church of England ; to which, by his con- 
duct, both in the pulpit and out of it, he has drawn great numbers of the 
more understanding Dissenters of all persuasions, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 93 

Failing now work in the ministry, his energies found 
employment as Secretary in the Land Office, and for twenty-five 
years he continued in that capacity, becoming in fact the real estate 
agent for the Proprietaries. In this office, he attained great dis- 
cretion, showing how well the confidence of the Penns in him 
was justified. Referring to this parochial controversy, Bishop 
White says of it : "It was said that Dr. Peters' acquaintance 
had been cultivated by the genteelest families in the city ; but 
that, being no favorite with the then rector of Christ Church, the 
Rev. Archibald Cummings, he accepted from the proprietary gov- 
ernment the secretaryship of the land office, which laid the founda- 
tion of a considerable fortune." Thomas Penn said of him a 
few years after this appointment, " he has always discharged it 
with great faithfulness and his understanding and temper render 
him very fit for such an office where he must transact business 
with a great number of ignorant people closely tied to their 
own interests." This was in 1741, when on the death of the 
Rev, Mr. Cummings, the Vestry of Christ Church recom- 
mended him to the Bishop of London for a license, designing to 
make him Mr. Cummings' successor in the Rectorship. The 
petition, however, failed ; his connection with the proprietary 
interests led to jealousies lest such influence would prevail in the 
Church and mar its ecclesiastical independence. Peters sub- 
mitted, to save contention, though his influence was so great in 
the parish as to have caused an entire independency of the 
Bishop's license had he in any way encouraged it. He became 
a member of the Vestry in 1740, and again from 1745-1752 
and served the Church faithfully in this capacity for these years. 
His secular work meanwhile grew upon him, he being appointed 
14 February, 1743, Secretary of the Province and Clerk to the 
Council. It was in this year that Franklin having drawn up his 
first plans for the establishment of a charity school relied upon 
Peters to take the matter in hand and become the head of the 
needed institution; but this Peters declined. On 19 May, 1749, 
on a suggestion from the Proprietaries, he was made a member 
of the Council and at once qualified. This year saw the con- 
summation of Franklin's proposal for an Academy and Charitable 



94 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

School, and he became a hearty co-worker in it, and preached 
a sermon at the opening. He became President of the Board 
of Trustees in 1756, He was one of the four representatives 
of Pennsylvania in the Congress at Albany in 1754; and in 
the year 1756, in a conference with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, 
he baptized several of them, of which he had record made in 
Christ Church registers on his return. Though thus in actual 
secular duties, and entitled Esquire in the organization of the 
Academy, he yet could not forego special exercises of his min- 
istry. In the beginning of 1762 he resigned his Secretaryship, 
but continued member of the Council. In the same year, he 
consented to officiate regularly at Christ Church in young 
Duche's absence abroad seeking priests orders, and when the 
old incumbent Dr. Jenney died, he was elected Rector of the 
United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peters in December, 
1762. This met the confirmation of the Bishop of London the 
following year. In this incumbency he continued until his 
resignation 23 September, 1775. He died 10 July following, 
and was buried in front of the chancel of Christ Church. The 
degree of Doctor of Divinity had been conferred on him by 
Oxford in 1770. In 1772 he sought the aid of two Assistants 
in his cure, in addition to the aid rendered by Mr. Duche, who 
had been Assistant from 1759, and the Vestry appointed on his 
recommendation two young graduates of the College and 
Academy, William White of the class of 1765 and Thomas 
Coombe of the class of 1766; and on his resignation he was 
succeeded as Rector by Mr. Duche who was of the class of 1757. 
As Bishop White was associated with Dr. Peters in Church 
and in College, we may find a fitting description of him by the 
Bishop's pen. " Dr. Peters was a native of England * * * he 
was then a young clergyman, of a respectable family in Liver- 
pool, of an excellent education, and of polished manners * * * 
At an age turned of sixty, he gave up his lucrative offices, and 
became more serious in religious concerns than at any former 
period of his life ; although his morals had been correct, his 
attendance on public worship constant and solemn, and his 
preaching occasional. * * * j^g adopted the notions of 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 95 

Jacob Boehtn and William Law ; in consequence of which his 
sermons were not always understood. In social discourse, he 
could be exceedingly entertaining * * * y^t- fj-Qm the 
moment of turning the conversation to religion, he was in the 
clouds." 3^ 

Dr. Peters interest in the College and Academy was second 
only to that of Franklin, and he shared in all the counsels of 
the latter in its inception and firm establishment. He suc- 
ceeded the latter as President of the Board and continued the 
leadership for many years. His attendance at the meetings was 
more constant than any other, not even excepting William 
Coleman, the only interval of any note being that from July 
1764 to December 1765 inclusive. The last time he attended 
the meetings was on 19 March 1776. At the meeting of 
5 October, 1778, Mr. Robert Morris by election succeeded him 
as Trustee. His connection with the Proprietary interests fur- 
thered the material recognition of the new institution by the 
Penns, and both financially and politically the association was 
valuable. In Franklin's early absences abroad, Dr. Peters with 
the Trustees and Dr. Smith in the Faculty kept in motion the 
busy work of the College. But, on the other hand, this par- 
ticular influence may signally have failed of advantage in the 
trying times of the Revolution, and have contributed to those 
suspicions which claimed to be the basis of the charter abroga- 
tion of 1779, which alone could have been prevented by Frank- 
lin's presence, who was then too far across the seas on public 
duties to wrestle with a suspicious Governor and unstable 
Legislature. 

Dr. Peters' brother, William, was father of Richard Peters, 
a graduate of the College and Academy in 1761, Judge of the 
U. S. District Court from 1791 to 1828, a Trustee of the College 
from 1789 to 1791 ; he was the owner of Belmont Mansion on 
the Schuylkill, now in Fairmount Park. 



^'^ Memoir, by Dr. Wilson, p. 27. 



96 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Abram Taylor was born in England about 1703, and came 
to Philadelphia from Bristol, and was soon engaged in a success- 
ful business ; it is said his partner desiring to return to England 
in 1 74 1 sold him his interest in the business for ^^7000 stg. 
Taylor was at this time in the City Corporation, and on 29 
December, 1741, qualified as a member of the Governor's 
Council, In the latter part of 1744 the office for the collection 
of the customs being vacant by the death of Mr. Alexander he 
assumed its duties under a Deputation from Bedford the titular 
Collector, " rather than a friend should suffer by the office being 
depreciated and undervalued since the commencement of a 
French War." He was elected Mayor in 1745, but declining 
to serve was fined ^30. He was made Colonel of the regiment 
of Associators for Defence formed under Franklin's lead in the 
latter part of 1747, the Lieutenant Colonelcy being offered to 
the latter but declined when Thomas Lawrence was commis- 
sioned. He fell into a contest with the Proprietaries on the 
purchase by him of a claim to about 20,000 acres of land, which 
they were unwilling to grant. So persistent was he in this, that 
they directed Governor Hamilton to strike his name from the 
Council. He urged his claim in England in 1750; and return- 
ing to Philadelphia, he continued one of the members of the 
City Corporation until his final departure from the Province, in 
1762, returning to the old country and taking up his residence 
in Bath where he died in 1772. His departure from the 
Province was signalised by a public dinner given him by his 
friends which attracted a notice in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 
I July, 1762 : 

On Thursday last an elegant Entertainment was prepared in the State 
House by a Number of the principal Gentlemen of this city, in order to 
bid Adieu to, and take their final Farewell of Abraham Taylor, Esq., 
late one of the Council, an Alderman of the City, and Deputy Collector of 
the Customs in this Port, now going to reside in England. Upwards of 
One Hundred Gentlemen attended Mr. Taylor on this occasion, and the 
greatest pleasure appeared on every countenance. Towards the close of 
this very agreeable Entertainment Mr. Taylor was addressed by one of the 
Company, in the Name of the Whole, and Thanks returned him for his 
faithful and upright Discharge of the several offices he had the Honour to 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 97 

fill, during a Residence of upward of Thirty Years among us ; and for his 
kind, prudent, blameless, and affectionate Behaviour, as a Friend, Fellow 
Citizen and Companion ; and the best and most cordial Wishes of the 
whole Company attended him, for his safe Passage to, and future Health 
and Happiness in his native Land. Mr. Taylor then took the most decent 
and affectionate Farewell of the Company, wished them, and the whole 
Province, all possible Blessings, Happiness and Prosperity, The Enter- 
tainment closed in the Evening with great Harmony, becoming good 
Citizens parting with a most worthy member. 

He married about 1733, Philadelphia, daughter of Patrick 
Gordon, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania from 1726 to 

^735- 

Mr. Taylor's attendance at the Trustees meetings resembled 
that of Mr. Syng's somewhat, in that they were quite regular up 
to the forepart of 1757, when Frankhn had departed on his first 
mission abroad, his last meeting that year being 10 May, after 
which he attended one in May 1761, and his last on 18 May 
1762. At the meeting of 14 December, 1762 election was had 
for a Trustee "to be chosen in the room of Abraham Taylor 
Esquire, departed out of the Province," when Mr, Andrew 
Elliott succeeded him. 

Doctor Thomas Bond was born in Calvert county Mary- 
land, in 1 71 2. He prepared himself for the medical profession 
under the well-known Dr. Hamilton, and afterwards traveled in 
Europe in furtherance of his studies, passing some time in 
Paris, where he attended the practice of the Hotel Dieu,^ 
Returning to America, he began the practice of medicine in 
Philadelphia in 1734, and soon attracted the attention and 
gained the confidence of the public. The pursuit of his pro- 
fession did not engross his attention, for we find him an active 
member of the circle of young inquirers and students which 
grew into the American Philosophical Society, and he gave con- 
stant attention to the affairs of the young Academy and College 
by diligent attendance at the meetings of the Trustees, and in 
175 I "conceived the idea of establishing a hospital in Philadel- 
phia * =<- * which was originally and truly his," as Franklin 

^'^ American Medical Biography, James Thacher, i. 177. 



98 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

records in his autobiography ; and was a member of the first 
board of managers of the Pennsylvania Hospital, as were Ben- 
jamin Franklin and Richard Peters, his fellow trustees in the 
Academy. On the opening of the Hospital in 1752, the 
patients were regularly attended by him and three other of his 
fellow-trustees, Drs. Zachary, Cadwalader and Phineas Bond, his 
brother; and in 1769 he gave the first course of clinical lec- 
tures in the Hospital. Of his introductory lecture to this course, 
delivered 3 December, 1766, Dr. Carson says "it is a clear 
exposition of the advantages of clinical instruction in connec- 
tion with medical education, at the same time evincing a deep 
interest in the medical school recently established, to which, as 
a Trustee of the College, Dr. Bond had most zealously given 
his influence." ^^ 

In 1782 he delivered the annual address before the Ameri- 
can Pliilosophical Society, the subject being, " The rank and 
dignity of man in the scale of being, and the conveniences and 
advantages he derives from the arts and sciences, and a prog- 
nostic of the increasing grandeur and glory of America 
founded on the nature of its climate." Dr. Thacher says of 
him, " he was for half a century in the first practice in Philadel- 
phia, and remarkable for attention to the cases under his care, 
and his sound judgment. He was an excellent surgeon, and in 
the year 1768 performed two operations of lithotomy in the 
Pennsylvania Hospital with success." 

He continued his intercourse by correspodence with Frank- 
lin during the latter's long sojourn abroad, and a letter of the 
latter written at Passy, 16 March, 1780, acknowledges Dr. 
Bond's "kind letter of September 220, and I thank you," he 
says '^^ 

for the pleasing account you give me of the health and welfare of my old 
friends, Hugh Roberts, Luke Morris, Philip Syng, Samuel Rhoads, &c. , 
with the same of yourself and family. Shake the old ones by the hand 
for me, and give^the young ones my blessing. For my own part, I do not 
find that I grow any older. * * * Advise those old friends of ours to 

'' History Medical Department University of Pennsylvania, Joseph Carson, 
M. D., 57. 

*" Bigelow, vii. 36. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 99 

follow my example : Keep up your spirits, and that will keep up your 
bodies ; you will no more stoop under the weight of age, than if you had 
swallowed a handspike. 

It is in a postscript to this letter he adds : 

I have bought some valuable books, which I intend to present to the 
Society, but shall not send them till safer times. 

Dr. Bond's daughter, Rebecca, married 21 September, 
1768, Thomas Lawrence, the grandson of Thomas Lawrence, 
the Councillor and his fellow-Trustee, and their second daugh- 
ter, Sarah Rebecca, married Warren de Lancey, a grandson of 
Governor Cadwallader Golden, and cousin of Provost de Lancey's 
father. 

He was described as of a delicate constitution, and dis- 
posed to pulmonary consumption, but by unremitting care of 
his health he passed beyond the threescore and ten years, though 
his life was an unceasingly active one, both in practice and 
authorship; he died 26 March, 1784. His remains he in Christ 
Church Burying Ground, and on his stone is engraven this 
epitaph : 

In memory of 

Thomas Bond M D 

who practised Physic and Surgery 

with signal reputation and success 

nearly half a century. 

Lamented and beloved 

by many 

Respected and esteemed 

by all 

and adorned by literary honors 

sustained by him with dignity. 

He was as constant as his brother in his attendance on the 
Trustees meeting and was one of the faithful ones who attended 
the last meeting on 22 November, 1779, under the charter of 
1755, the only one of the original Trustees who then attended. 
He was a member of St. John's Lodge in 1734, Junior Grand 
Warden in 1741, and Senior Grand Warden in 1755. 



*^'& 



100 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Thomas Hopkinson was born in London 6 April, 1709, the 
son of Thomas Hopkinson a merchant of that city. His educa- 
tion was a hberal and practical one, and though he is said to 
have been at Oxford did not complete his studies there. He 
took up the study of law, and at twenty-two years of age decided 
on venturing himself in the colonies, coming to Pennsylvania in 
1 73 1, and at once engaging in the practice of his profession. 
He became deputy to Charles Read, Clerk of the Orphans' 
Court of Philadelphia County, and on the latter's death in Janu- 
ary, 1737, succeeded him. He was Master of the Rolls from 1736 
to 1741, Deputy Prothonotary and afterwards Prothonotary of 
Philadelphia County, and chosen in October, 1741, a Common 
Councilman. In the latter year he succeeded Andrew Hamilton 
as Judge of Vice-Admiralty for Pennsylvania, and on 1 3 May, 
1747, became a member of the Provincial Council. But his 
interests were not confined to legal or political channels, and 
were equally given to literary and scientific pursuits in associa- 
tion with Franklin and his circle, and of the American Philo- 
sophical Society which had its origin in the Junto he was made 
the first President. And when the Academy was planned he 
became an active Trustee and warmly co-operated with Franklin 
in all its concerns, as he had in the institution of the new 
Library Company which was established in the year of his 
arrival in the Province. In scientific affairs he was a zealous 
amateur, and shared with Franklin in some of the wonderful 
developments in the knowledge of electricity. Franklin writing to 
his friend Peter Collinson, 11 July, 1747, "in pursuing our 
electrical inquiries, * * * of the wonderful effect of pointed 
bodies, both in drawing off and throwing off the electrical fire," " 
adds in later years the acknowledgment:^" "This power of 
points to tJirozv off^Xi^ electrical fire, was first communicated to 
me by my ingenious friend, Mr. Thomas Hopkinson, since 
deceased, whose virtue and integrity, in every station of life, 
public and private, will ever make his memory dear to those 
who knew him, and knew how to value him." Mr. Hopkinson 
died in Philadelphia 5 November, 175 1. Mr. Sparks says of 
" Bigelow, ii. 66. ^^ Ibid. 68, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. ioi 

him, " He was distinguished for his classical attainments, gen- 
eral learning, the brilliancy of his conversation, and his fondness 
for philosophical studies."*^ 

But we must record the testimony of his friend Franklin to 
his worth, which we find in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 14 
November, 175 i : 

Last week died here the honourable Thomas Hopkinson, Esq. ; 
Judge of the Admiralty for this Province, one of the Governor's Council, 
and Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas for the County of Phila- 
delphia, &c. A Gentleman possessed of many Virtues, without the Alloy 
of one single Vice ; and distinguished for his attachment to the Cause of 
Justice and Honesty ; which he practised in private Life with a scrupulous 
Exactness, and in Publick Affairs, with an Intrepidity and Firmness of 
mind that was not to be shaken ; an excellent Ingredient in his character, 
where a quick Conception, a clear Discernment, and a solid Judgment, were 
happily United: In Matters of Truth so faithful, that the nearest Concerns 
of his own Interest had not a greater Share of his Application. His Benevo- 
lence was as extensive as the proper Object of it, the whole human Race, 
but his great Modesty, and his not seeking to be known caused the Num- 
ber of his intimate Friends to be but small: Among those, in the Hours of 
Recreation, he had the particular Faculty of tempering the Facetious with 
the Grave, in so agreeable a Manner, as made his Conversation both 
delightful and instructive. He was reserved in Professions of Religion, 
but the Spirit of Christianity actuated the whole Conduct of his Life. Not 
conscious of any Guilt or Neglect of any Social Duty, he beheld the slow 
Approaches of Death with an amazing cheerfulness, without any Mixture of 
Anxiety or Fear ; and at last bid adieu to the world with all the Serenity of 
Mind that could flow from the Wisdom of a Philosopher joined to the 
Innocence of a Child. 

Mr. Hopkinson married in 1736, Mary, daughter of Bald- 
win Johnson of Appoquinimink Hundred, Delaware.** Of their 
children, Francis, the eldest, we will learn somewhat of later as 
an honored alumnus of the College and Academy at its first com- 
mencement, together with Jacob Duche, Jr., and John Morgan 
afterward his brother-in-law ; Thomas was an alumnus of 
1766 and afterward entered Holy Orders, dying in 1784 with- 



*^ Sparks, vi. 87. 

*^ Her first cousin. Dr. James Johnson, was Canon-residentiary of St. Paul's 
Cathedral, and was in 1752 made Bishop of Gloucester, whence in 1760 he was 
translated to Worcester, dying in 1774- 



102 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

out family; Elizabeth married the Rev. Jacob Duche; and 
Mary married Dr. John Morgan, who in 1765 became the 
first medical professor, that of the Theory and Practice of 
Physics, in the College and Academy, and consequently the 
first in America. 

Mr. Hopkinson had attended but ten meetings of the 
Trustees up to 13 July, 1751, and his death made the first 
break among the active Trustees, for though James Logan had 
died but a few days before, his age and infirmities precluded his 
taking any active part in the proceedings. At the meeting of 
12 November, 175 1, Dr. Thomas Cadwalader was elected to 
take his trust. He was a member of St. John's Lodge, with 
Franklin, in 1733, was elected Junior Grand Warden in 1734, 
Deputy Grand Master in 1735, and Grand Master in 1736. 

William Plumsted was born in Philadelphia 7 November, 
1708, the son of Clement Plumsted the Councillor, a native of 
Norfolk, England. In 1724 young Plumsted was taken abroad 
by his father. He subsequently became a partner of his father in 
business, and continued the establishment after his death. He 
became a Common Councilman in 1739. He was made Register 
General of Wills for the Province in 1745, "although it was 
thought remarkable that a wealthy man would take it:" this 
office he held until his death, and on 30 May, 1752 was commis- 
sioned a Justice of the Peace of the County Courts. Brought 
up a Friend, about middle age he renounced the Society and 
became a Churchman, and joined in the petition for the lot on 
which St. Peter's Church was erected in 1760, and of which he 
became the first Accounting Warden. He was three times 
Mayor of Philadelphia, viz. : in 1750, 1754, and 1755 : it is 
said he spared himself the public entertainment called for 
from the retiring Mayor in 1750 by donating to the City the sum 
of £7^. He with Chief Justice Allen and others in 1755 con- 
tributed to a sum which was to represent the tax properly deriva- 
ble from the Proprietaries estates, at the time the Assembly was 
refusing to pass any bill for raising money for defence of the 
province which excused the Penns from contributing. In 1757 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 103 

he was a member of Assembly from Northampton County. He 
died 10 August, 1765, and was buried in St. Peter's Church Yard. 
All that now can certainly be deciphered of the inscription on his 
tombstone speaks of him as " An Eminent Merchant, An 
Alderman, and some time Mayor of Philadelphia, Whose public 
character as a useful Citizen and Magistrate Let his country tell." 
He married first Rebecca, daughter of Philip Kearny of Phila- 
delphia, and whose sister Mary was the wife of Chief Justice John 
Kinsey. She died in 1741, and he married secondly, in 1753, 
Mary daughter of George M'Call, the sister of Samuel M'Call 
junior, his fellow Trustee. His daughter Elizabeth, by the first 
marriage, married Andrew Elliott who was elected a Trustee of 
the College in 1762. 

The Pennsylvania Gazette 14 August records this obituary 
notice of him : 

On Sunday last died here, after a short, but severe, Illness, Wil- 
liam Plumsted, Esq. , one of the Aldermen of this City ; and the next Day 
was buried in St. Peter's Church Burying Ground, in the plainest Manner, 
at his own Request, according to the new Mode, lately used in Boston and 
New York, having no Pall over his Coffin, nor none of his Relations or 
Friends appearing in Mourning. We flatter ourselves, that this frugal and 
laudable Example of burying our Dead, so seasonably set by People of 
Family and Fortune, will be imitated by all, both in City and Country ; 
the good Effects of which must soon be felt, especially by those in low 
Circumstances. 

Mr. Plumsted was more regular in his attendance at the 
Trustees meetings in the earlier years of his service, but to the 
last he evinced his interest by as frequent attendance as he could 
give. His last meeting was that of 11 September, 1764. At 
the meeting of 23 September, 1765, Mr. John Lawrence was 
elected to succeed him. He was a member of St. John's Lodge, 
with others of his Fellow Trustees, in 1734, was Senior Grand 
Warden in 1735, Deputy Grand Master in 1736, Grand Master 
in 1737, and Grand Treasurer in 1755. 



104 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Joshua Maddox was born in 1685, a native of England. 
He was a member of the Vestry of Christ Church for many 
years, at intervals from 1728 to 1746, and a Warden, 1731-33 ; 
and was made a Justice of the Orphans' Court i March, 1741, 
commissioned 4 April following on the same day with Robert 
Strettell, a justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and 6 October, 
1747, an alderman and associate justice of the City Court. With 
his associate justices, Thomas Lawrence, Edward Shippen and 
Benjamin Franklin (probably the latter's first hearing) he sat in 
trial of a case in June Term, 1749 of Lawrence William vs. 
William Till, of unusual magnitude at the time for the Common 
Pleas. Mr David Paul Brown illustrates this in the following 
sentences :^^ 

We have in this record a singular exhibition of the social and judicial 
system of the province. Taken in connection with the large influence of 
Friends in the civil concerns of that day, it seems to present a mixture of 
the times of the patriarchal government with that of the reign of the mer- 
chant princes, and that of the highest state of artificial English law. We 
find here four persons, not one of whom was ever at the bar, nor, so far as 
we know, ever professionally educated, seated on the seat of judgment, 
hearing an important case of commerce, and adjudging it by rules of scien- 
tific common law jurisprudence * * *■ He sat from March 1741 until 
his death in April, 1759, ^ term of eighteen years, upon the seat of judg- 
ment, constantly partaking in its councils and attending its adjudications ; 
and when he died at the age of seventy four, had almost become personi- 
fied in this province with the administration of its local justice. 

Mr. Maddox was engaged in mercantile pursuits, with 
success, and was a citizen of influence and honor. His education 
had been a liberal one, and his library in its choice of books 
showed him to be a man of studious and contemplative tastes. 
He died 12 April, 1759. His wife survived him many years, 
dying in 1783, at the advanced age of 102 years, as is told on 
their grave stone in Christ Church Yard. His only child, Mary, 
married John Wallace, of Hope Farm, Somerset County, New 
Jersey, a native of Scotland, and was mother of Hon. Joshua 
Maddox Wallace, an alumnus of the College in 1767. 

Mr Maddox was a frequent attendant on the meetings of 

^^ Foniin, i. 237-238. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 105 

the Trustees ; the last he attended was on 22 November, 1758. 
At the meeting of 8 July, 1760, Mr Thomas Willing was elected 
his successor. 

Thomas White was born in London in 1704, the son of 
William White of London and Elizabeth Leigh his wife ; his 
father died when he was but four years of age, and in 1720 he 
came to America as apprentice to Mr. Stokes the Clerk of the 
County of Baltimore ; he eventually became his deputy and 
having pursued the study of law with the limited means then at 
command in the colonies, he practiced it at the Maryland bar. 
He became deputy surveyor of the province for the then County 
of Baltimore, which includes what we now know as Harford 
County created in 1773, and gradually acquired lands and was 
fortunate in developing them to the cultivation of tobacco, the 
great staple of the day, and was successful in producing bar 
iron from the ores found on his estates, thus becoming one of 
the earliest iron producers in the colonies. He married Sophia, 
daughter of John Hall of Cranbury, of one of the oldest settled 
families in Baltimore County; but when he was left a widower in 
1742 with three young daughters, he was in a few years induced 
to make his residence in Philadelphia not alone for their better 
education but as well also to increase his business connections, 
for when settled in the commercial metropolis of the colonies, he 
-could more readily export the produce of his plantations and 
make importations in exchange therefor. He attained the rank 
of Colonel in the provincial militia, and bore this title to his 
new home. He must early have made the acquaintance of Franklin 
in establishing himself in Philadelphia, through a common 
friend Richard Peters, who as Secretary to the Pennsylvania 
Council must have often encountered the Maryland Surveyor in 
the boundary controversies between the Penns and Calverts. 
He was at the early age of twenty-seven made a Vestryman of 
old St. George's, Spesutiae, now in Harford County, his attach- 
ment to the Church of England being drawn from the traditions 
of several ancestral generations who leaned rather to the House 
of Stuart, and when he came to Philadelphia he at once attached 



io6 History of the UNivERsrrY of Pennsylvania. 

himself to Christ Church. He resigned his Trusteeship in the 
Academy and College in 1772 owing to increasing infirmities, 
but his young son was two years later elected a Trustee. He was 
one of the Commissioners of Peace in 1752, and on 30 May the 
same year was commissioned a Justice of the Peace of the County 
Courts of Philadelphia. He espoused the cause of the colonies in 
their struggles against the parliament, and perhaps his Jacobite 
traditions made it the more easy for him to seek a severance 
from a King of the House of Hanover ; but an accident which 
had befallen him in 1757 forbade participation in any political or 
military movements of the time. When writing to his London 
correspondents, Messrs. David Barclay & Sons, 1 1 November, 
1765, in ordering some articles, he adds, " But not if the Stamp 
Act be unrepealed." On one of his stated visits to Maryland 
he died, after a short illness, at his daughter's house at the 
head of Bush River, on 29 September, 1779, and his remains 
now lie in the old St. George's burying ground. 

He married secondly, Esther, daughter of Abraham Hew- 
lings of Burlington, N. J., of a family which early in the colony 
were Friends, but who became followers of George Keith and 
returned to the Church of England ; and by her he had a son 
William, whom he lived to see Rector of the united Churches 
of Christ Church and St. Peter's, but did not live to see him 
wearing the Mitre ; and Mary, who became the wife of Robert 

Morris the Financier, a Trustee of the College from 1778 to 

1 79 1. His eminent son records of him. 

He was indulgent to his Family in all their reasonable Desires and 
was attentive to the keeping of a plentiful and hospitable Table. Among 
his many good Qualities, was strict Temperance and scrupulous Integrity. 
Perhaps no Man ever lived and died with a more unreserved acknowledg- 
ment of these properties of character. 

His oldest grandson, Thomas Hall, a graduate of the 
Academy and College in 1768, while reading law in Philadel- 
phia served for the following year as tutor in his Alma Mater. 

Col. White's attendance with the Trustees at their meetings 
was very regular and would have been almost without inter- 
mission but for his absences from the city. The last time he 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 107 

attended was that of 30 May, 1769 ; and on 19 May, 1772, he 
wrote the Trustees : 

As it is not any longer convenient for me to give that attendance at 
your Meetings which the Duty of a Trustee requires, I would request you 
to accept my Resignation, which I do not make out of any Disregard to the 
Institution, the Prosperity of which I shall always wish ; but because my 
continuing longer in the office of a Trustee prevents you from having some 
more useful and active member. 

And at the meeting of 25 May following : 

The Hon'ble Richard Penn, Esqr. , the present Governor of the 
Province, is unanimously elected a Trustee in the Room of Col. White who 
has lately resigned ; and Dr. Peters, Mr. Inglis, and the Provost are 
desired to wait upon his Honor, and request his acceptance of a share in 
the Trust and Direction of this Institution. 

William Coleman, of whom Franklin so tenderly speaks 
when reciting*'' the names of his friends of the Junto, as hav- 
ing " the coolest, clearest head, the best heart, and the exactest 
morals, of almost any man I ever met with," was born in 1704, 
the son of William Coleman. " Our friendship," he says, "con- 
tinued without interruption to his death, upwards of forty years." 
The meagre information we have of him does not satisfy our 
desires to know more of the man of whom Franklin gives such 
a testimony. He early attained eminence as a faithful citizen 
and a successful merchant. He was a Common Councilman in 
1739, was appointed Clerk of the City Court, 18 September, 
1747, and on 30 June, 1749, a Justice of the Peace of the County 
Courts of Philadelphia together with Thomas Lawrence, Abram 
Taylor, Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, Thomas Hopkin- 
son, William Allen, Joshua Maddox, Charles Willing, and Ben- 
jamin Franklin, with whom he was to be a co-trustee of the new 
Academy organized before the close of that year. He was again 
commissioned 25 May, 1752, others of the Trustees then being 
included, William Plumsted, Thomas White, and John Mifflin. 
On 27 November, 1757, he was made Presiding Justice of the 
Court of Quarter Sessions, and on 8 April, 1758, an associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court of the Province, to which he was 

*^ Bigelow, i. 143. 



io8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

re-commissioned in 1761 and again in 1764. He was the first 
clerk to the Trustees of the Academy, resigning in 1755, and its 
first Treasurer, resigning this office in 1764 being succeeded 
by Edward Shippen, jr. The last meeting of the Trustees he 
attended — and no one was more constant in attendance than he 
— was on 10 July, 1764; and on 21 February, 1769, John 
Allen, Esquire, was elected to succeed him. His death occurred 
I I January, 1769, and on 19 January following, we find in the 
Pennsylvania Gazette this obituary notice of him : 

On Wednesday, the Eleventh instant, died at the age of 64, The 
Honourable William Coleman, Esq., an Assistant Judge of our Supreme 
Court. He was always esteemed a valuable and useful citizen, and a 
Gentleman of great good sense, and unblemished Virtue. Tho' much 
pleased with Study and Retirement, he possessed many social Virtues, and 
was ever fond of those Subjects which were most likely to render him 
serviceable to his Neighbor. He was an able and an upright Judge, and 
in that character gave the greatest Satisfaction to his Country. And we 
may say, with much Reason, that this Province has few such Men, and 
that few Men will be so much missed as Mr. Coleman. " 

He married Hannah, daughter of George Fitzwater, whom 
he survived and without children. By his will he freed his 
slaves, and including his Books and Mathematical Instruments, 
he left his residuary estate, which was rich in realty, to his wife's 
favorite nephew, George Clymer, the Signer, who had been left 
an orphan at an early age, and whose care had devolved upon 
William Coleman and his wife. Judge Coleman superintended 
young Clymer's education, and with his cultivated mind instilled 
into him a love of reading, which better fitted him for his later 
political duties. George Clymer became a Trustee of the Col- 
lege and Academy in 1779. 



*' ' ' Upon the whole I proposed to them to leave the matter to Reference, 
which was accordingly done by mutual consent to a very honest judicious man, Mr. 
William Coleman, a merchant of the place," Chief Justice Allen, 5 November, 
1753. And again in a later letter to David and John Barclay of London he speaks of 
him as " Our Mutual Friend." The Burd Papers, 1S97, pp. 9 and 75. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 109 

XI. 

The first action the now organized Board of Trustees took 
was in the direction of securing a habitation for the new school, 
before entering upon any general plan of tuition ; and to this. 
end their thoughts turned to the New Building, as it was called,, 
on Fourth Street near Arch which had been built nine years 
before for Whitefield's impressive ministrations, and which now 
could, it was thought, be had on advantageous terms, and as an 
investment would prove useful and also give an evidence to the 
community of the sincerity of the design the Trustees were now 
formulating. 

Upon the appointment of the officers, the Minutes next 
record : 

Messrs. William Allen, Abraham Taylor, Charles WiUing, Richard 
Peters, Thomas Leech, and William Shippen are requested to treat with 
the Trustees of the New Building, about taking a part of it for an Academy, 
and report the Terms on which it may be had at the next meeting. And 
are further requested to treat with Workmen, on the expence of erecting 
what is necessary for that Purpose. ^ 

This Committee reported at the next meeting, namely 26 
December, 1749, when all the members were present except 
Messrs. Shippen, Hopkinson, and Zachary. The proposals of 
the Trustees of the Lot of Ground whereon the House com- 
monly called the New Building is erected for conveying the 
said Lot and House to the Trustees of the Academy for the 
uses in those proposals mentioned, were read and agreed to 
Nemine coniradicente, and the offer by Mr. Logan of his lot on 
Sixth St., before referred to, was courteously declined, and the 
President requested to acquaint him with this result. 

This building has a place in local history of great promi- 
nence, and a recital of its beginnings and consummation will be 
interesting. On a previous page it was noted how Whitefield's 



^ Between these first two meetings of the Board Franklin's friend Godfrey 
had died, and he thus notices his death in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 19 December, 
1749 : " Last week died here Mr. Thomas Godfrey, who had an uncommon Genius 
for all kinds of Mathematical Learning, with which he was extremely well 
acquainted. He invented the New Reflecting Quadrant used in Navigation." 



no History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

great Discourses drew extraordinary audiences to hear them and 
see him, and of the necessity for a place suitable in size for their 
accommodation ; for although his cure was in Savannah where 
he had made for himself a double duty in building up also an 
Orphanage, yet Philadelphia was the pivotal point of his great 
missionary tours, and this influential community drew more of 
his attention and labors than any other in the colonies outside 
of Savannah. As his adherents were not drawn from the upper 
classes, who merely tolerated if they did not oppose him, we 
find that the four of the former who took title in trust to the 
property on Fourth Street, were Edmund Woolly, carpenter, 
John Coats, brickmaker, John Howell, mariner, and William 
Price, carpenter. The purchase was made 15 September, 1740, 
from Jonathan Price and Wife, of the lot of ground, one hundred 
feet below Arch Street, with a front of one hundred and fifty 
feet on Fourth, opposite the old Friends Burying Ground, 
extending westward in depth one hundred and ninety-eight feet 
to the Burying Ground of Christ Church, which had been 
opened in 17 19. On 14 November following these four made 
assignment of the property in trust to Rev. Mr. George White- 
field, of the province of Georgia, Clerk ; WilHam Seward, of 
London, Esquire ; John Stephen Benezet, of Philadelphia, Mer- 
chant; Thomas Noble, of New York, Merchant; Samuel 
Hazard, of New York, Merchant ; Robert Eastburn, of Phila- 
delphia, Blacksmith; James Read, of Philadelphia, Gentleman; 
Edward Evans, of Philadelphia, Cordwainer ; and Charles 
Brockden, of Philadelphia, Gentleman ; for the purposes as 
expressed in the following Preamble : 

Whereas, a considerable number of Persons of different denomina- 
tions in Religion had united their endeavours to erect a large building upon 
the land above described intending that the same should be appointed to 
the use of a Charity School for the instruction of poor children gratis in 
useful literature and of the Christian religion, and also that the same should 
be used as a House of Publick Worship . And that it was agreed that the 
use of the said Building should be under the direction of certain Trustees 
* * * which Trustees before named and thereafter to be chosen were 
from time to time to appoint fit and able school masters and school mis- 
tresses for the service of the said school and introduce such Protestant 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. i i i 

Ministers to Preach the Gospel in the said house as they should judge to be 
sound in their Principles, zealous and faithful in the discharge of their duty 
and acquainted with the Religion of the Heart and experimental piety 
without any regard to those distinctions or different sentiments in lesser 
matters which have to the scandal of religion unhappily divided real 
Christians. 

The building, elsewhere described, was erected about mid- 
way of the lot facing eastward, and though but partially com- 
pleted, even before the roof was completed, Whitefield had 
gathered his first congregation in it five days before the convey- 
ance. Franklin gave a very liberal construction to this liberty 
of preaching, in writing of it in after years, for he describes the 
" design in building not being to accommodate any particular 
sect, but the inhabitants in general ; so that even if the Mufti of 
Constantinople were to send a missionary to preach Moham- 
medanism to us, he would find a pulpit at his service;" ^ but 
Whitefield and Tennent would hardly have extended their 
liberaHty to even a Mufti. 

Franklin referring again to the New Building and the obli- 
gations resting on the property, which latter formed the occasion 
for the Trustees of the Academy to consider the expediency of 
securing it, writes : 

The enthusiasm which existed when the house was built had long 
since abated, and its trustees had not been able to procure fresh contribu- 
tions for paying the ground rent, and discharging some other debts the 
building had occasion' d, which embarrass' d them greatly.^ Of the four 
original trustees, one of each sect was appointed, viz : Church of England 
man, one Presbyterian, one Baptist, one Moravian, who in case of vacancy 
by death, were to fill it by election from among the contributors. The Mora- 
vian happened not to please his colleagues, and on his death they resolved 
to have no other of that sect. The difficulty then was, how to avoid hav- 
ing two of some other sect, by means of the new choice. Several persons 
were named, and for that reason not agreed to. At length one mentioned 
me, with the observation that I was merely an honest man, and of no sect 
at all, which prevailed with them to choose me. * * * Being now a 
member of both boards of trustees, that for the building, and that for the 
academy, I had a good opportunity of negotiating with both, and brought 
them finally to an agreement, by which the trustees for the building 

2 Bigelow, i. 207. ^ j^j^j^ ; 226. 



112 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

were to cede it to those of the academy ; the latter undertaking to dis- 
charge the debt, to keep for ever open in the building a large hall for 
occasional preachers, according to the original intention, and maintain a 
free school for the instruction of poor children. Writings were accord- 
ingly drawn ; and, on paying the debts, the trustees of the academy were 
put in possession of the premises ; and, by dividing the great and lofty hall 
into stories, and different rooms above and below for the several schools, and 
purchasing some additional ground, the whole was soon made fit for our 
purpose, and the scholars removed into the building. The whole care and 
trouble of agreeing with the workmen, purchasing materials, and superin- 
tending the work, fell upon me ; and I went through it the more cheerfully, 
as it did not then interfere with my private business. 

The question of an earlier date for the foundation of the 
University is said to arise from the purchase by the Trustees in 
1749 of this incomplete building, which was erected by subscrip- 
tions procured in good faith in preceding years for the main- 
tenance therein of a certain religious preaching as well also of a 
Charity School ; and a gain of nine years in the University exist- 
ence is thus affirmed, inasmuch as the former enterprise was 
projected in 1740, and the building then shortly begun was 
designed to further these two objects. The first public claim in 
our own day of this earlier date is sanctioned by its publication in 
the University Catalogue of 1893-4. The year in which free 
preaching and a free school were thus projected, need not here 
be considered, particularly as the operations of the latter feature, 
a free school, were not consummated for ten years and more after, 
and then only under the efforts of the assignees, though the 
preaching privilege was at once exercised — even before the 
roof was on. The Academy Trustees in thus taking title to the 
premises obligated themselves " to discharge the debt, to keep 
for ever open in the building a large hall for occasional preachers 
* * * and maintain a free school for the instruction of poor 
children." The trustees of 1740 having erected the build- 
ing by subscriptions gathered upon these pledges, could not but 
seek from their assignees the condition that these objects be 
carried out in due time, which the Academy Trustees were in no 
wise loth to do, as these would not only prove attractions to 
the new movement but give them speedy possession of the 
needed edifice ; and they, in continuing good faith to the original 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 113 

subscribers, under this assignment, eventually started and main- 
tained the free school as one of the prominent features of their 
scheme of education, although some delay prevented their con- 
summation of this until as late as September, 175 1. Dr Peters 
in his Sermon on Education Wherein Some Account is given of 
the Academy, Preach' d at the Opening thereof, 7 January, 1750- 
51, says: 

It became a matter of debate where to place the Academy, and many- 
arguments were offered for some village in the country as best favouring the 
morals of the youth * * * but when it came to be considered that it 
would take a large sum to erect proper buildings at a distance from the city, 
that the circumstances of many of the citizens would not admit of a distant 
place on account of the expense, that the trustees were men of business 
who could not be absent from their habitations without much inconve- 
nience, * * * * it was thought proper to fix it somewhere within the 
city ; and the more so, when the minds of the trustees of the building, 
where we are now assembled, came to be imparted. These thoughtful 
persons had been for| some years sensible that this building was not put 
to its original use, nor was it in their power to set forward a charity school, 
which was also a part of the first design, and that it was more in the power 
of the trustees of the Academy than in others to do it ; they therefore made 
an offer to transfer their right in it to the use of the Academy ; provided 
the debts which remained unpaid, might be discharged and the arrears of 
rent paid off. This was thankfully accepted, and a conveyance was 
executed . 

The Trustees had thus taken over an encumbered and 
incomplete building from an insolvent association, which had 
also failed in its free schooling project, obligating them- 
selves in part consideration to carry forward its free preaching 
and educational features. Had they accepted Mr. Logan's 
offer of his Sixth street lot, and utilized it by building thereon, 
no thought would have arisen for antedating their own creation 
of 1749. They accepted the tender of the Fourth street prem- 
ises, even in its incompletenesss, not only for greater convenience 
in location, but also to spare them the further loss of time 
which the erection of a building on the Logan lot would have 
entailed; but they did not, indeed could not, assume that by 
taking title thereto on i February, 1750, with what may be enti- 
tled its philanthropic liens, they would thus add more years to 



114 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

their associated life. The thought of an earHer date than 1749 for 
their beginnings was never entertained by them or by the five 
generations succeeding, and only recently arose to exercise 
the pleasing thought of a more extended existence by the term 
of nine years. 

Neither Dr. Peters nor any of his associates could have 
entertained such a thought, for in the paragraph of the Sermon 
immediately preceding the one above quoted, he records the 
birth, which met with no contradiction by any cotemporary, 
as of 1 749, as follows : 

Nor should it be concealed, that this present institution, tho' one of 
those kind which generally have for their Founders, sovereign Princes, or 
branches of Royal Families, or Nobles of the first rank and dignity, 
owes likewise its being to a sett of private Men, who from the Neces- 
sity of such a Seminary of learning set themselves at the close of the war, 
seriously to think about one * * * At last they agreed on the general 
heads and confident of the continuance of the pubhck spirit of their fellow 
citizens, they ventured to publish their Proposals relating to the education 
of youth in this province. * * * After these were found to give gen- 
eral satisfaction, twenty-four Trustees, without regard to differences in 
religious persuasions, were appointed to carry them into execution : Mer- 
chants, Artificers, some likewise of the learned professions. ^ ^ * 
Thus successful, it became a matter of debate where to place the Academy, 
&c., &c., &c. 

In announcing in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 2 August, 
1750, the contribution of the City of Philadelphia, Franklin 
speaks of this as 

for the encouragement and support of the Academy and of the Charity 
School which the Trustees of the Academy have likewise undertaken to 
open in this city, for instructing poor children, «S:c., &c. 

Dr Smith wrote in June, 1753 : 

A few private Gentlemen of this city have in the Space of two or three 
years, projected, begun, and carried to surprising Perfection, a very noble 
Institution, &c., &c. 

And in his Eulogium on Franklin in 1791 : 

the next institution in the foundation of which he was the principal 
agent, was the academy and charitable school of the City of Philadelphia ; 
the plan of which he drew up and published in the year 1749. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 115 

Indeed in his more formal statement to the Assembly in 
1788, made in his Address to the General Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania in the case of the violated charter of the College, &c., of 
Pennsylvania, presented to the Assembly 12 March, 1788, he 
recites : 

The College of Philadelphia was a private corporation similar to the 
Exeter College in Oxford ; it had its foundation in the year 1749, from pro- 
posals made and published by that great friend of learning, Dr Franklin, 
with whom were associated the following gentlemen, * •» * twenty- 
four in the whole ; and their chief funds were of their own private subscrip- 
tions for a number of years, aided by the voluntary benevolence of many 
of their fellow citizens ; it was first stiled an Academy ; and before it had 
a charter, was governed by certain fundamental constitutions agreed upon 
by the gentlemen above named as a voluntary society of founders. 

Robert Proud, when writing his History a few years later, 
recorded the same date for the beginning of the institution. This 
date was also maintained by the late Provost Stille in his 
Memoir of the Rev. William Smith, D.D., 1869, " my great 
predecessor." This was, further, officially held down to the 
printed Catalogue of the University for 1892-3, where the nar- 
rative reads : 

A pamphlet called Proposals Relative to the Ediication of Youth in 
Pennsylvania vix\\X&Ci\x\ 1749 by Dr Franklin, led to an association by 
certain citizens of Philadelphia for the purpose of founding a School on the 
lines suggested by that wise counsellor. 

This was confirmed in the Biographical Catalogue of the 
Matriculates of the Cohege, 1749-1893, published in 1894 by 
the Society of the Alumni. The General Catalogue of the 
Officers and Graduates of the Department of Arts, published in 
1849, also by the Society of the Alumni, had recited "from 1749 
to 1849." BiJt in the Catalogue for 1893-4 appears the earher 
birth-date in the Historical Sketch, viz.: 

A pamphlet called Proposals Relative to the Edtication of Youth in 
Pennsylvania, written in 1749 by Dr Franklin, led to an association by 
certain citizens of Philadelphia, for the purpose of raising to the dignity of 
an Academy the Charitable School which had been established in 1740, 
and which was then struggling under a debt upon the building erected for 
its use and the accommodation of the celebrated preacher Whitefield. 

And for the first time the cover of this Catalogue bore the legend, 



ii6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

and claimed the earlier date, " Founded 1740 " ; — for which there 
appears no warrant in the long and unbroken Annals of 
the University. It is certain that Franklin and Peters had 
themselves no thought of their building in 1749 " upon another 
man's foundation." 

On the first of February, 1750, the "Trustees of the 
Academy met at Roberts's Coffee House, except James Logan. 
Tench Francis, and Thomas Hopkinson, Esquires;" when "the 
Trustees of the New Building being present, joined in directing 
Edmund Woolly and John Coats to convey, and they accord- 
ingly did convey the said Building Lot of ground and Appurte- 
nances to the Trustees of the Academy, in consideration of the 
sum of Seven hundred seventy and five pounds eighteen shillings 
and eleven pence and three farthings to them in hand then paid 
by the Treasurer for order of the Trustees for discharging the 
debts and incumbrances of the said Building." And to meet 
this purchase the Trustees " agreed unanimously to borrow 
Eight hundred pounds of the Treasurers of the Lottery, which 
was accordingly done and bond given by all the Trustees for 
repayment of the same with interest ; which is to be done out 
of the Stock of the Academy, as it shall arise." 

This conveyance of i February, 1750, recites the death of 
Howell and Price, the associates of Woolly and Coats ; and 
that William Seward and Thomas Noble being since deceased, 
the survivors of the Cestui que trust or a majority of them, 
namely, Benezet, Hazard, Eastburn, Read and Evans agree to 
Woolly and Coats assignment and sale. This conditioned that 
the Trustees should place, erect, found, establish, or keep a house or place 
of public worship, and also one free school for the instructing teaching 
and education of poor children or scholars within two years from the date 
of the conveyance ; and likewise from time to time introduce such preacher 
or preachers whom they shall judge qualified as recited in the former 
indenture is expressed to preach and teach the word of God occasionally 
in the said place of publick worship but yet so that no particular sect be 
fixed there as a settled congregation and shall at all reasonable times per- 
mit and suffer in his reasonable turn any regular Minister of the Gospel to 
preach in the House or place on the premises which shall be set apart for 
Publick Worship who hath signed or hereafter shall sign certain articles of 
religion a copy whereof is hereto annexed and whom they shall moreover 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. ti/ 

judge to be otherwise duly qualified as aforesaid and particularly shall per- 
mit the free and uninterrupted use of the said Place of Worship to the said 
Revd. Mr George Whitefield whenever he shall happen to be in this city 
and desire to preach therein. 

A meeting of the Trustees was held the following day to 
remove the alarm which some of Mr. Gilbert Tennent's friends 
raised, fearing that they might be forbidden the use of the New 
Building for his ministrations. 

It being represented to the Trustees that previous to the conveyance 
of the New Building to them, Expectations were given to the Revd. Mr. 
Gilbert Tennent and his congregation that they should be permitted with- 
out interruption to continue the exercise of Divine Service on the Lord's 
Day in that part of the New Building that shall be set off for public wor- 
ship until they shall be provided with an House of their own for that pur- 
pose which they are now about to erect with all convenient expedition. 
The Trustees esteeming the said Mr Tennent to be duly qualified accord- 
ing to the deed of Trust, and considering that the said Congregation is at 
present without a Meeting House, do concede and grant to him and them 
the free and uninterrupted use of the said Place of Worship on the Lord's 
Day and other stated times of Meeting, free of Rent (excepting only when 
the Revd. Mr. Whitefield shall be present and desire to use the same) from 
this time until their intended New Meeting House shall be fit to accommo- 
date them, provided the same be ready to receive them within three years 
now next ensuing. [And under directions], a copy of the same was accord- 
ingly made and signed by the President by order of the Trustees and 
delivered to Mr. Samuel Hazard for Mr Tennent. 

This was the congregation of the Second Presbyterian 
Church who were then building their large edifice on the North 
West corner of Arch and Third Streets, which however was 
not completed for their use until May, 1752. 

The " certain articles of religion, a copy whereof is hereto 
annexed," above referred to, could be justly named the White- 
field Confession of Faith, and are duly recorded at length in 
Deed Book Letter A, No. 5, page 168, the only instance known 
of the Recorder of Deeds finding room in his volumes for the 
entry of a creed. The final sentence alone need be quoted 
here, as epitomizing its chief articles : 

We do also give our assent and consent to the 9th, loth, nth, 12th, 
13th and 17th articles of the Church of England as explained by the 
Calvinists in their Litteral and grammatical sence without any equivocation 



ii8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

whatsoever. We mention these in particular because they are a summary 
of the foregoing articles. We believe all that are sound in faith agree in 
these whatever other points they may differ in. 

This Deed and the Articles of i February were made the 
subject of an entry in the Minutes of 25 June, 1750, namel}-, 
" Ordered, That the Treasurer pay to John Moland, Esqr., 
Twenty Pounds for his services in framing the conveyance of 
the New Building to the Trustees of the Academy." 

The Trustees individually subscribed, as we have seen, for 
a term of three years sums aggregating annually Three Hun- 
dred and Forty-three pounds, saving the aged Logan, whose 
tender of a lot of ground probably took the place of a cash 
subscription. William Allen's subscription was the largest, 
amounting to £7^. annually ; the next in amount were those of 
Masters, Zachary, and Turner, for ;^20. each, Lav/rence, M'Call, 
Willing, Taylor, Thomas Bond, and Plumsted, for ^15. each, 
and Inglis, Francis, Franklin, Shippen, Strettell, Phineas Bond, 
Peters, Hopkinson, Maddox, and Coleman for £10. each, and 
Leech, Syng, and White £6. each. Governor Hamilton, 
through Mr. Peters, added his annual subscription of ^^50. 
Among the general subscribers there are found with varying 
sums, the names of John Baynton, Daniel Benezet, William and 
Ann Bingham, William Blair, Richard Brockden, James Burd, 
Thomas Burgess, Captain John Coxe, William Cradock, Jacob 
Duche, Robert Greenway, Lawrence Growden, David Hall, 
Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Hazard, Samuel Hasell, Edwards 
Hicks, Richard Hill, Andrew Hodge, James and WiUiam Hum- 
phreys, Abel James, Margaret Jeykill, Lynford Lardner, John 
and Thomas Laurence, jr., Archibald M'Call, David Mcllvaine, 
Charles and Reese Meredith, Evan Morgan, Samuel Neaves, 
John Ord, Stephen Paschall, James Pemberton, Samuel Read, 
John Ross, Joseph Saunders, John Searle, Edward Shippen, 
Joseph Sims, Attwood Shute, Peter Sonmans, Amos and John 
Strettell, James Trotter, John Wallace, Townsend White, John 
Wilcocks, John Yeates ; a representative constituency, evidencing 
the sympathy of all portions of the community in the new enter- 
prise, and resulting in a first year's subscription of ;^322.8. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 119 

But the contributions were not confined to home sources, for 
Mess. David Barclay & Sons of London were contributors : it 
was recorded in the minutes of 25 June, 1750, "that Mr. 
Joseph Turner acquainted the members that they had gener- 
ously presented the Academy with the sum of One Hundred 
Pounds Sterling Money, which they had ordered him to pay." 
Publicity was given to this by Franklin in the Pennsylvania 
Gazette of 2 August, 1750 : 

We hear that an eminent merchant of London hath generously given 
a Hundred Pounds to the Academy now erecting in this City, for the 
Education of Youth, which has accordingly been paid into the Hands of 
the Trustees by his Correspondent here. 

But the minutes do not record the gift of the City of Phila- 
delphia, which was the first tie that bound the corporation to 
what was to become its great institution. The Treasurer in his 
journal records the receipt on 20 August, 1750, 

from Samuel Hasell, Esq., the sum given by the Corporation towards 
finishing the Building, ^200. [And Franklin joyfully informs the readers 
of the Pennsylvania Gazette of it on 2 August, 1750:] Tuesday last, the 
Mayor and Commonalty of this City met, and voted a Sum of Two 
Hundred Pounds to be paid down, and One Hundred Pounds a year, for 
the Encouragement and Support of the Academy and of the Charity 
School which the Trustees of the Academy have likewise undertaken to 
open in this city, for instructing poor children in Reading, Writing and 
Arithmetic: The Corporation Only reserving a liberty of nominating 
yearly one scholar out of those that shall be taught in the Charity School, 
to be received into the Academy, and educated there gratis. 

The subject had been presented to the Council on 30 July, 
1750, by the Recorder, William Allen, a Trustee, who 

proposed that it might be considered. Whether this Design for the 
advancement of Learning, be not worthy of some encouragement from 
this Board as their circumstances may very well afford it. * * * It 
appearing to be a Matter of Consequence, and but a small number of the 
Members now present, [it was referred to a special Meeting to be called for] 
Tomorrow at four o' clock in the Afternoon to consider of the proposal. 

At the Common Council held next day, of those present 
the Mayor, the Recorder, three of the Aldermen, and eight of 
the "Common Council Men," were Trustees, viz: Lawrence, 
Allen, Turner, Strettell, Plumsted, Francis, Franklin, M'Call, 



I20 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Inglis, Shippen, Thomas Bond, Hopkinson and Coleman ; 
"And a Paper containing an Account of what is already done 
by the Trustees of the Academy, and what Advantages are 
expected from that Undertaking being laid before the Board 
was read." This had been prepared by Franklin and is spread 
at length upon the minutes ; it is given elsewhere. It recites : 

The Trustees of the Academy have already laid out near ^800. in the 
Purchase of the Building, and will probably expend near as much more 
in fitting up Rooms for the Schools, and furnishing them with proper Books 
and Instruments for the Instruction of Youth. The greatest Part of the 
Money paid and to be paid is subscribed by the Trustees themselves, and 
advanced by them ; many of whom have no children of their own to 
educate, but act from a view to the Public Good, without regard to sect or 
party. * * * The Benefits expected from this Institution are: That 
the youth of Pennsylvania may have an opportunity of receiving a good 
Education at home, and be under no necessity of going abroad for it. 

* * * That a Number of our Natives will hereby be qualified to be our 
Magistracies, and execute other public offices of Trust, with Reputation to 
themselves and Country; there being at present great want of Persons so 
qualified in the several counties of this Province. And this is the more 
necessary now to be provided for by the English here, as vast numbers of 
Foreigners are yearly imported among us, totally ignorant of our Laws, 
Customs and Language. That a Number of the poorer Sort will hereby be 
qualified to act as Schoolmasters in the Country, to teach Children Read- 
ing, Writing, Arithmetic, and the Grammar of their Mother Tongue ; 

* * * the Country suffering at present very much for want of good 
School masters. * * * It is thought that a good Academy erected in 
Philadelphia, a healthy place where Provisions are plenty, situated in the 
Center of the Colonies, may draw Numbers of Students from the neighbor- 
ing Provinces, who must spend considerable Sums yearly among us, in 
Payment for their Lodging, Diet, Apparel, &c. * * * Numbers of 
people have already generously subscribed considerable sums to carry on 
this Undertaking ; but others, well disposed, are somewhat discouraged 
from contributing, by an Apprehension, lest when the first Subscriptions 
are expended, the Design should drop . The great Expence of such a 
work is in the Beginning. * * * Some Assistance from the Corpora- 
tion is immediately wanted and hoped for * * * it will greatly 
strengthen the Hands of all concerned, and be a means of Establishing 
this good work and continuing the good Effects of it down to an late 
Posterity. * * * The Board having weighed the great Usefulness of 
this Design, after several Propositions heard and debated, agreed that a 
Sum of Money by this Board and paid down towards compleating the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 121 

Building which the Trustees have purchased, and are now fitting up for 
the Purpose; and hkewise, that a sum or sums be given yearly by this Board, 
for five years to come, towards the support and Maintenance of the Schools 
under the direction of the said Trustees, 

with the result as announced by Frankhn in the next issue of his 
Gazette. Thomas Lawrence's Mayoralty terminated the follow- 
ing October, and he was succeeded by William Plumsted ; and 
his year's salary he gave to the Academy, "which Proposal was 
approved by a great Majority at a Common Council" held 21 
March, 1751; and Mr. Coleman enters the receipt " from Samuel 
Hassell, Esq., Treasurer to the Corporation, being presented by 
Thomas Lawrence, Esqr., late Mayor of this City (with the 
Approbation of the Common Council) in lieu of giving a Mayor's 
Feast the sum of ;^ioo ; " and another Trustee makes, in the entry 
of the same date, the Academy the beneficiary of his civil fees, 
viz: "from William Allen, Esq, late Recorder, being his half 
year's Salary as Recorder he gives i^i2.iO." 

But with all the subscriptions and benefactions, the loan 
from the Philadelphia Lottery of Eight Hundred Pounds author- 
ised by the Trustees at their third meeting was quite necessary, 
as the building required considerable alterations, besides the 
needed school outfit much of which would have to be imported. 
In twelve months there were expended in the New Building 
upwards of ;^598, to make it conform to their proposed require- 
ments. This includes an item on 21 August, 1750, "paid for 
Provisions at second raising ;^4.4, ii;" which was doubtless a 
wholesome and needful expenditure ; but when the good Treas- 
urer records in all gravity, 2 May, " given the Bricklayers to 
drink 2/3," and the same date "given ditto for drink 7/6," we 
are led from the object of the expenditure to consider what 
may be in grammatical correctness designed for a distinction in 
the two entries by the use of a different preposition. The 
Bricklayers were a favored crew, for they received at this " sec- 
ond Raising," "for drink, 15.?." However, the Carpenters were 
later remembered, as on 31 October they were paid for drink 
yld, on 7 December, lOi', and on 3 January again 7/6. As 
Franklin had charge of the repairs and alterations in the Build- 



122 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

ing and rendered exact accounts of every item expended to his 
worthy friend the Treasurer, which the latter faithfully records, 
he must have found local custom too strong to resist, and doubt- 
less with resignation submitted and with a protest charged the 
idle expenditure to the Academy funds. These are the little 
pictures which display to us customs of time and place.* 

An offer from Mr. Samuel Hazard made to the Trustees 
and reported to them at the meeting of lo November, 1750, to 
sell them two lots, one on each side of the Academy lot, subject 
to Ground Rents, for the sum of three hundred pounds, was 
accepted. One of these was twenty-five feet on Fourth Street 
by one hundred and thirty-nine feet eight inches adjoining the 
Academy lot on the north, and the other thirty-four feet by one 
hundred and forty feet adjoining on the south. This gave the 
Trustees a frontage of two hundred and nine feet on Fourth 
Street. The first payment of ;^I5 5 was made on 27 February, 
and the balance of ^145 on 23 April following. This increase 
of Real Estate, which it will be seen was added to in 1753, by 
absorbing all the ground Northward to Arch Street, was simply 
an indication on the part of those interested that they were 
planting for the future an institution of far reaching capabilities 
and usefulness ; the sagacity exhibited in these purchases was 
equalled only by the faith held by these gentlemen in the great 
promises of their Academy and Charity School. 

Franklin's summary of the work now begun must be told by 
his own narrative, which cannot be equalled in another's lan- 
guage. To Jared Eliot he is writing on 13 February, 1750-51,^ 
and after giving " his thoughts about the northeast storms begin- 
ning to leeward," and an account of his visit to Schuyler's copper 
mines in New Jersey the previous Autumn, he proceeds, 

It will be agreeable to you to hear, that our subscription goes on 



* In his essay on the Vice of Drunkenness in the New England Courant which 
Franklin had written more than twenty-five years before, he said : " I doubt not but 
moderate Drinking has been improved for the Diffusion of Knowledge among the 
ingenious Part of Mankind who want the Talent of a ready utterance, in order to dis- 
cover the Conceptions of their Minds in an entertaining and intelligible Manner." 
Did he now recall this sentiment in the tipple to these workmen ? 

^ Bigelow, ii. 164. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 123. 

with great success, and we suppose will exceed five thousand pounds of 
our currency. We have bought for the Academy the house that was built 
for itinerant preaching, which stands on a large lot of ground capable of 
receiving more buildings to lodge the scholars, if it should come to be a 
regular college. The house is one hundred feet long and seventy wide, 
built of brick, very strong, and sufficiently high for three lofty stories. I 
suppose the building did not cost less than two thousand pounds ; but we 
bought it for seven hundred seventy five pounds, eighteen shillings, eleven- 
pence, and three farthings; though it will cost us three and perhaps four 
hundred more to make the partitions and floors, and fit up the rooms. I 
send you enclosed a copy of our present Constitutions but we expect a 
charter from our Proprietaries this summer, when they may probably 
receive considerable alterations. 

With what gratification must he have written to Mr EHot 
on 12 September following "Our Academy flourishes beyond 
expectation. We have now above one hundred scholars, and 
the number is daily increasing." ^ 

This large building, originally designed for one large audi- 
ence room, or "great and lofty hall" as Franklin describes it, 
with two rows of windows as we see in many of our older 
churches, was divided into two stories, and rearranged substan- 
tially as we of our generation knew it before its complete 
destruction in 1844. The well known cuts of it in local histo- 
ries afford a correct exterior view. The entrance opened into a 
large hall, on either side large class rooms, that to the north 
being occupied by the Charity School. The Western half 
of the first floor was occupied by the large school room, about 
ninety by thirty-five feet, in the centre of which was a platform 
whereon all the teachers from the unhappy Beveridge to the 
robust Crawford wielded their authority, from which however 
the latter would often descend to try his rattan on some heedless 
pupil who perchance had little thought then of commem- 
orating the worthy Dominie in these pages. The hall here 
turned to the South between the laree room and the front class 



^ Bigelow, ii. 235, and he adds " We have excellent masters at present ; and as 
we give pretty good salaries, I hope we shall always be able to procure such. We 

pay the Rector, who teaches Latin and Greek, per annum ./^T^oo 

The English master £^5^ 

The Mathematical professor . , £^^5 

Three assistant teachers, each ^60 ^'^o 



124 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

room, and then to the West, opening out into the play ground, 
about one hundred feet by fifty, where many a happy half hour 
was spent during recess, and where Alexander Graydon, the 
new pupil, perhaps earned his first laurels in the art of self 
defense.^ We moderns when relaxing thus in the midst of 
school hours, had little thought of the worthy and venerable 
associations which clustered around the building ; nor were John 
Beveridge's pupils a century before us anymore mindful of these, 
when on a concerted signal a few hiding in the play ground closed 
the heavy wooden shutters to darken the room on his entrance, 
affording to the majority remaining within the fun of raising a 
Bedlam, from which the unlucky professor could only find refuge 
under a school form and escape from their missiles of books and 
rulers.^ In this side hall arose a heavy stair case with a solid 
balustrade which had stood the racket of hundreds of lads of all 
sizes and weights, and which on a turn opened into a large upper 
hall covering the width of the building and about ninety feet of 
its length. Across the south end, over the stairway, was a gal- 
lery, and the rostrum was against the north wall. Here were 
held the Commencements and all the public exercises, and on 
Sundays Divine service by Whitefield when he was in the city, 
by Dr Tennent with his new congregation, and by others who 
could subscribe the Creed recited in the deed of conveyance. 
Here we may picture Mr. Smith's first display of his pupils' ora- 
torical accomplishments in the Christmas holidays of 1756 when 
they performed the Masque of Alfred, which they repeated the 
following spring before sundry of the colonial Governors then 
visiting Philadelphia. A space of perhaps eighty feet or more 
remained between the building and Fourth Street, the street 
being shut off by a high wall, in which was a modest gate. This 
front campus was devoted solely to the solemn entrance or the 
joyful exit of the pupils, and no play or pranks were here per- 
mitted. And even in our day there sat just outside of the gate 
the descendant of the old dame of Gabriel Thomas' time, vend- 
ing "on any day in the week, tarts, pies, cakes, &c" which cer- 
tainly were toothsome if not wholesome. 

' Memoirs of a Life, &c. Alexander Graydon, 28. ^ Ibid, p. 35. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 125 

Herein continued the operations of the College and Uni- 
versity until the purchase a half century later of the premises on 
Ninth Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets, whither 
they moved in 1802, and which is now succeeded by the 
United States Post Office ; and by a happy coincidence there 
stands on the latter's front pavement the bronze statue of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, recently erected there to the memory of the 
great colonial Postmaster General, appointed in 1753, who was 
as well the Founder of the University, from which the Govern- 
ment holds its present title. 



XII. 

But in the midst of these material preparations for the 
accommodation of the future scholars, the mental provision for 
them was well undertaken. At the meeting of 29 March it was 
voted " that a sum not exceeding one hundred pounds sterling 
be paid by the Treasurer to the said Committee [Messrs Franklin, 
Allen, Coleman, Peters, Hopkinson and Francis] to be disposed 
of in Latin and Greek Authors, Maps, Drafts and Instruments 
for the use of the Academy;" which the Journal tells us was 
forwarded in a bill of Robert and Amos Strettell's for one hun- 
dred pounds sterling, which cost the Trustees at the current 
exchange iS" 1 7 3. 10, to Mr. Peter Collinson in London for his 
purchase of the required articles. It was through Mr. Colhn- 
son's friendly agency in January following that they bought "a 
parcel of Latin and Greek books of John Whiston, Bookseller, 
£2)0.11 ; prints bought of Bowles 59/, and Instruments bought 
of Adams £^.14, and Mathematical instruments bought of John 
Moyan ;^33.i2/6," which with shipping, insurance, and current 
rate of exchange cost them ^^138.3.10. On the margin of this 
last entry, Franklin has himself made a note describing some of 



126 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the items in the bills, " Bowning's Phil° 15/, Philipps Lang" 5/, 
Map of the World 9/, Rectifer 3/6." ^ Of Mr. Collinson, Franklin 
wrote to Jared Eliot, 12 September, 1 751,- in answer to inquiries 
about him : 

the Collinson you mention is the same gentleman I correspond with. 
He is a most benevolent, worthy man, very curious in botany and other 
branches of natural history, and fond of improvements in agriculture, &c. 
He will be pleased with your acquaintance. In the late Philosophical 
Transactions, you may see frequently papers of his, or letters that were 
directed to him, on various subjects. He is a member of the Royal Society. 

Franklin's correspondence with this gentleman in his Elec- 
trical experiments has been referred to on a previous page; his 
letter to Mr. Michael Collinson giving some biographical facts 
respecting himself is found in Sparks' Frmiklin, vii. 426, and 
contains the sentence : " The characters of good men are exem- 
plary, and often stimulate the well disposed to an imitation, 
beneficial to mankind and honourable to themselves." 

We are not told the places of meeting of the Trustees, 
except those of the ist and 2nd February, which were held at 
Roberts's Coffee House. The subsequent meetings doubtless 
were held in one of the apartments of the New Building, other 
than those which were undergoing alteration and change. 



1 Compendious System of N'atural Philosopliv, by John Bonning, of which an 
•edition had been printed in London in 1744, two vols. Way of Teaching Languages, 
London, 1723, by J. Thomas Philipps. 

^ Bigelow, ii. 235. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 127 

XIII. 

Though Mr. Martin had been secured for the Rectorship, 
there had been higher aims in view, and Franklin bent his 
energies to secure a clergyman of the Church of England, the 
Rev. Samuel Johnson, D. D. of Stratford, Connecticut, to under- 
take the general direction of the Academy ; and it must have 
been with this design in view that Mr. Martin accepted the 
Rectorship. Under the Constitutions, the Rector was obliged, 
" without the Assistance of any Tutor, to teach twenty Scholars 
the Latin and Greek Languages, and at the same Time, accord- 
ing to the best of his Capacity, to instruct them in History, 
Geography, Chronology, Logick, Rhetorick, and the English 
Tongue ; and Twenty-five Scholars more for every Usher pro- 
vided for him, who shall be entirely subject to his Direction." 
He was to be in fact, the first professor in honor and rank, and 
no reference was made to his general governance of the institu- 
tion or to any responsibility attaching to the office as head of 
the faculty. Such a person was needed, although not so stipu- 
lated in the Constitutions, and came to be known afterwards 
under the amended charter of 1755 as Provost, when the then 
Rector, Dr. AHson, was made Vice-Provost, and the Rev. William 
Smith being the first incumbent of the Provostship. Such an 
one Franklin believed he found in Dr. Johnson, whose eminence 
as a divine and a scholar in the Eastern Provinces had brought 
to him in 1743 Oxford's degree of Doctor of Divinity. They 
were both correspondents of Cadwallader Colden, and through 
this learned intermediary Franklin formed Johnson's acquaint- 
ance, and the more he knew of him the more did he desire to 
secure him for his new Philadelphia enterprise. So earnest was 
he in the pursuit of this object, that he and his associate Trustee, 
Tench Francis, journeyed to Stratford in the early summer of 
1750, hoping ;to secure his acquiescence in their plans. It 
appears that some talk of a college for New York had been had 
in 1749, and Johnson had been consulted in regard to it. The 
knowledge of this, and the present lack of certainty in the New 
York movement, must have led Franklin to the belief that the 



128 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

good Stratford Rector would prefer engaging in the new institu- 
tion in the metropohs of the British colonies than await the 
developments of one in New York. Johnson had sought upon 
this latter the advice and counsel of the good George Berkeley, 
Bishop of Cloyne, whose few years residence in this new country 
had endeared him to all here who were his friends or corre- 
spondents. The Bishop's wise and friendly reply of 23 August, 
1749, reached Stratford after the visit of the Philadelphia gentle- 
men, and Dr. Johnson enclosed it to Franklin, but his letter of 
inclosure is not preserved. The entire correspondence is given 
in the Appendix, as no mere extracts, for which the text can 
find a place here, can offer a just estimate of the communications 
which these two worthy men had one with the other on the 
subject. 

In age, Samuel Johnson was ten years the senior of Benja- 
min Franklin, being born in Guilford, Connecticut, 14 October, 
(o. s.) 1696. At ten years of age' his first schooling was under 
the tuition of Jared Eliot, a Yale graduate of 1706; although 
this tutelage continued but a year, as Eliot then entered the 
ministry and settled at Killingworth, yet the latter's affection for 
his pupil ripened into friendly relations in after life ; and as 
Eliot and Franklin became correspondents the latter must have 
heard through him of his former pupil. Johnson graduated at 
Yale College when it was yet at Saybrook, in 17 14, and follow- 
ing the example of his early preceptor he began teaching a 
school of the higher order in his native town. When the Trus- 
tees decided in 17 16 to move the College to New Haven, 
Johnson was elected one of the Tutors, and he was for a time 
the only tutor in the new location, being joined in 171 8 by his 
classmate Daniel Brown, the animosities engendered by the 
removal of the College keeping apart for some years the con- 
tending factions created by this removal. The controversies 
terminated in 17 19, and Governor Yale's benefactions in money 
and books to the institution won for it the name it has honestly 
borne in the long years since. In March, 1720, he was ordained 
a Congregational Minister, but even at that moment, had 
written a paper which yet remains in manuscript entitled 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 129 

" My present Thoughts of Episcopacy with what I conceive may 
justifie me in accepting Presbyterial Ordination," which prepares 
us to accept without surprise his eventual adoption of Episco- 
palian views. Many of his friends were moved in the same 
direction ; and when the Rev. Timothy Cutler, the President of 
the College, Rev. John Hart, Rev. Samuel Whittelsey, Rev. 
Jared Eliot, Rev. James Wetmore, Rev. Daniel Brown, and 
himself, made a public declaration on Commencement Day, 17 
September, 1722, "that some of them doubted the validity, and 
the rest were more fully persuaded of the invalidity of Presby- 
terian ordination in opposition to the Episcopal," we can scarcely 
picture to ourselves in these later days the grief and surprise 
with which it was received not only in the College, but through- 
out the colony where State and Church were almost indissoluble. 
This was a theological and religious movement without parallel 
in colonial days. The public discussions held to convince them 
of their error, had the effect of preventing Eliot, Hart and Whit- 
telsey actually seeking Episcopal ordination, and these remained 
to the end of their days in the Congregational ministry, and 
they continued friends but not members of Episcopacy. John- 
son, Cutler, and Brown sailed in a few weeks for England, and 
on 22 March, 1723 they were ordained Deacons, and on 31 
March, Priests, both ordinations being held at St. Martins-in-the- 
Fields, London ; but Brown fell a victim to smallpox and died 
on 13 April, a disease Cutler was seized with on his arrival but 
happily recovered from. Johnson returned to Stratford by 
November following. There was no place of public worship for 
Episcopalians in Connecticut, but one had been begun m Strat- 
ford, of which Johnson took the Rectorship, and it was opened 
for religious services on the Christmas twelvemonth. Here he 
continued faithful in the discharge of his pastoral duties, with an 
affectionate interest for his a/ma mater, in whose early tribula- 
tions he had a share, and with a revival of his taste for teaching^ 
in the growth of his children, his eldest son being born in 1727 
whose early years found all their mental training at his hands j 
and " that it might be more agreeable to them to have com- 
panions, he took several gentlemen's sons of Newport and 



130 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Albany." On Bishop Berkeley's visit to this country and his 
residence at Newport, Rhode Island, he visited him, and began 
a lifelong acquaintance, and was to some extent a sharer in his 
peculiar views. The Bishop's scheme for a great college in 
some part of the new world growing up under England, must 
have found a sympathiser in Johnson ; and when a College was 
talked of in New York, and Johnson was conferred with on the 
matter, he at once sought the advice and counsel of Berkeley, 
with the result already noticed. 

Franklin's visit to Stratford must have afforded him some 
hopes of success with his appeal to Johnson. He writes him, 9 
August, 1750, ^ 

Mr Francis, our Attorney General, who was with me at your house, 
from the conversation then had with you, and reading some of your pieces, 
has conceived an esteem for you equal to mine . The character we have 
given of you to the other trustees, and the sight of your letters relating to 
the Academy, has made them very desirous of engaging you in that design, 
as a person whose experience and judgment would be of great use in form- 
ing rules and establishing good methods in the beginning, and whose name 
for learning would give it a reputation. We only lament that in the infant 
state of our funds we cannot make you an offer equal to your merit But 
as the view of being useful has most weight with generous and benevolent 
minds, and in this affair you may do great service not only to the present 
but to future generations, I flatter myself sometimes that if you were here, 
and saw things as they are, and conversed a little with our people, you 
might be prevailed with to remove. I would therefore earnestly press you 
to make us a visit as soon as you conveniently can ; and in the meantime 
let me represent to you some of the circumstances as they appear to be. 
* * * It has long been observed, that our Church is not sufficient to 
accommodate near the number of people who would willingly have seats 
there. The buildings increase very fast towards the south end of the town, 
and many of the principal merchants now live there ; which being at a 
considerable distance from the present church, people begin to talk much 
of building another, and ground has been offered as a gift for that purpose. 
The Trustees of the Academy are three fourths of them members of the 
Church of England, and the rest men of moderate principles. They have 
reserved in the building a large hall for occasional preaching, public 
lectures, orations, etc. ; it is 70 feet by 60 feet, furnished with a handsome 
pulpit, seats, etc. In this Mr. Tennent collected his congregation, who 

' Life and Correspondence of Samuel yohnson, D. D., by Rev. Dr. Beards- 
ley, p. 157. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 131 

are now building him a meetinghouse. In the same place, by giving now 
and then a lecture, you might, with equal ease, collect a congregation that 
would in a short time build you a church, if it should be agreeable to you. 
* * * And when you are well settled in a church of your own, 
your son may be qualified by years and experience to succeed you in the 
Academy ; or if you rather choose to continue in the Academy, your son 
might probably be fixed in the church. ■» «• * I acquainted the trus- 
tees that I would write to you, but could give them no dependence that 
you would be prevailed on to remove. They will, however, treat with no 
other till I have your answer. * * * There are some other things best 
treated of when we have the pleasure of seeing you. It begins now to be 
pleasant travelling. I wish you would conclude to visit us in the next 
month at furthest. Whether the journey produce the effect we desire or 
not, it shall be no expense to you. 

Dr. Peters wrote the same day to Dr. Johnson urging a 
visit and inviting him to his house: * 

I am obliged to you for the honor you did me in your compliments 
to Mr. Franklin and Mr. Francis . * * * Though personally unknown 
to you, I must take the freedom, from a hint that such a journey would 
not be disagreeable to you, to give you an invitation to my house. Let 
me, good sir, have the pleasure of conversing with a gentleman whose 
character I have for a long time esteemed. * * * I can tell you 
beforehand, that can my friends or I find any expedient to engage your 
residence among us, I will leave nothing unattempted in the power of. 
Reverend Sir, your affectionate brother and humble servant, Richard 
Peters . 

From Dr. Johnson's retention of his Stratford cure when he 
finally accepted the Presidency of King's College, we may see in 
this an obstacle in his way to coming to Philadelphia almost 
insuperable. Stratford was within easy stages of New York, 
where he would reside during College term. Franklin held out 
to him the hope of building up a new cure in Philadelphia, thus 
anticipating by ten years the formation of St. Peter's Church 
which grew out of Christ Church. But this would have been 
considered an intrusion, unless Dr. Jenney the Rector had made 
the way open for the effort ; however. Dr. Peters was at that time 
in the Vestry and could have facilitated the assent of the Rector. 

* Beardsley, i6o. 



132 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Franklin in his rejoinder ^ of 23 August endeavors to combat 
this, and with one of his apt similes : 

Your tenderness of the Church's peace is truly laudable ; but, me 
thinks, to build a new church in a growing place is not properly dividing 
but multiplying ; and will really be a means of increasing the number of 
those who worship God in that way. Many who cannot now be accommo- 
dated in the church go to other places or stay at home ; and if we had 
another church, many who go to other places or stay at home, would go to 
church. I suppose the interest of the church has been far from suffering 
in Boston by the Building of two new churches there in my memory. I 
had for several years nailed against the wall of my house, a pigeon box 
that would hold feix pair ; and though they bred as fast as my neighbors' 
pigeons, I never had more than six pair ; the old and strong driving out the 
young and weak, and obliging them to seek new habitations. At length I 
put up an additional box, with apartments for entertaining twelve pair 
more, and it was soon filled with inhabitants, by the overflowing of my first 
box and of others in the neighborhood. This I take to be a parallel case 
with the building a new church here. 

The correspondence was continued, Franklin again writing 
him 13 September, but Dr. Johnson gave a final reply in Jan- 
uary, 1752 :*' 

I am now plainly in the decline of life, both as to activity of body 
and vigor of mind, and must, therefore, consider myself as being an Emeri- 
tus, and unfit for any new situation in the world or to enter on any new 
business, especially at such a distance from my hitherto sphere of action 
and my present situation, where I have as much duty on my hands as I am 
capable of and where my removal would make too great a breach to be 
countervailed by any good I am capable of doing elsewhere, for which I 
have but a small chance left for much opportunity. So that I must beg 
my good friends at Philadelphia to excuse me, and I pray God they may be 
directed to a better choice. And as Providence has so unexpectedly pro- 
vided so worthy a person as Mr. Dove for your other purpose, I hope the 
same good Providence will provide for this. I am not personally acquainted 
with Mr. Winthrop, the Professor at Cambridge, but by what I have heard 
of him, perhaps he might do. But I rather think it would be your best 
way to try if you cannot get some friend and faithful gentleman at home, of 
good judgment and care, to inquire and try if some worthy Fellow of one 
or other of the universities could not be obtained. Perhaps Mr. Peters or 
Mr. Dove may know of some acquaintance of theirs, that might do likely : 



* Beardsley, 163, also Bigelow, ii. 204. This is the only letter of this inter- 
esting correspondence included by Mr. Bigelow. '' BearJsley, 165, 167. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 133 

dulchis ex ipsio foriibus. * * * -^ Meantime you have, indeed, my 
heart with you as though I were ever so much with you in presence, and if 
there were any good office in my power you might freely command it. 

From Franklin's press was issuing at this time the sheets 
of a work by Johnson on Ethics, entitled Elementa Philosophica, 
containing chiefly Noetica, or Tilings relating to the Mind or Un- 
derstanding ; and Ethica, or tilings relating to the Moral Be- 
haviour. It bears the imprint of B. Franklin and D. Hall, 
Philadelphia, 1752. In Johnson's letter, last referred to, he re- 
fers to this : " I thank you for sending the two sheets of my 
' Noetica,' which are done with much care. I find no defects 
worth mentioning but what were probably my own." 

A work written by Samuel Johnson, printed by Benjamin 
Franklin, and dedicated to Bishop Berkeley, is singular in this 
happy conjunction of noted names. And it is a happy coinci- 
dence that a vice Provost of the University of Pennsylvania has 
given us the first American Annotations on Bishop Berkeley's 
Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge. Dr. Krauth 
says " the first place in the Berkeleyan roll of honor is due to 
Dr. Samuel Johnson," and describes his "■ Elementa Philosophica 
as thoroughly Berkele3^an in its main features." "^ 

King's College had been less Catholic in its intentions and 
designs than the Philadelphia Academy, and was without a lead- 
ing mind to direct its early steps such as the latter was 
favored with. As early as 1746 a provincial act was passed 
authorising a lottery for a College ; the results of this, to which 
were added some benefactions of Trinity Church, produced more 
than ;^3400. which were placed in the hands of Trustees by en- 
actments of the Colonial Legislature in 1753, a majority of whom 
were Church of England men. 

The Presbyterian interest, under the leadership of William 
Livingston, thwarted its consummation for some years ; but a 
charter was finally granted 31 October, 1754, and Samuel John- 
son accepted the Presidency ; leaving his pleasant home at 
Stratford in April, but neither removing his family or resigning 

"f A Treatise, etc., tvith Prolegomena and Annotations, Charles V. Krauth, 
D. D., Philada., 1886, p. 36. See Sparks, vi. 125, note. Also letter of Franklin to 
Johnson about the slow sale of Noetica, 15 April, 1754, in Beardsley, iSo. 



134 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

his parish. On reaching New York he was unanimously chosen 
an assistant Minister of Trinity Church, which he declined. His 
labors for the College, his early building of it, do not find a 
place here ; they are elsewhere more worthily written ; but it 
is pleasant to contemplate here even at this late day, the in- 
teresting historic connection existing between Columbia College 
and the University oi Pennsylvania in the associations with the 
latter which the first President of the former held ; and the Uni- 
versity may with peculiar interest reflect that perhaps it was the 
success of efforts of Benjamin Franklin and his colaborers in 
Philadelphia that hastened the work in New York and enabled 
the founders of Columbia to more effectively overcome the op- 
position of politics or of jealousy. A graceful reminder of this 
exists in a Library chair of Franklin's, the legacy of Mrs. Cath- 
arine Wistar Bache to Dr. Hosack and by him given to the 
Literary and Philosophical Society of New York in 1822, which 
is maintained in a place of honor in the Library of Columbia 
College. May the bond of friendship continued in their con- 
temporary years of youth not be forgotten in the present day 
when both institutions are rising more fully into the recognition 
of University needs. Nor must it be forgotten that the funds 
in later years collected in the Mother country for the aid of both 
these institutions was done in a joint commission, upon 
which Jay and Smith so successfully planted their Appeal for aid 
in developing colonial education. 

Dr. Johnson's advertisement of the opening of the new 
College in i July, 1754 was given in the N. V. Gazette : or the 
Weekly Post Boy, of 3 June and its terms foreshadow the cur- 
riculum and discipline of the institution, and as it is worthy of 
perusal as not only showing the Doctor's present arrangements 
but his future plans, it is printed entire elsewhere. But the last 
Article seems such a reflex of the Philadelphia Proposals of 
1 749 that it will bear repetition here. 

And, lastly, a serious, virtuous, and industrious Course of Life, being 
first provided for, it is further the Design of this College, to instruct and 
perfect the Youth in the learned Languages, and in the Arts of reasoning 
exactly, of writing correctly, and speaking eloquently : and in the Arts of 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 135 

numbering zxid. measuring ; of Surveying z.nd Navigation, of Geography and 
History, oi Husbandry, Commerce ?iii\d Government, and in the Knowledge 
oi all Nature in the Heavens above us, and in the Air, Water and Earth, 
around us, and the various kinds of Meteors, Stones, Mines and Minerals, 
Plants and Animals, and of every Thing useftd for the Comfort, Con- 
venience and elegance of Life, in the chief Manufactures relating to any of 
these Things : And finally, to lead them from the Study of Nature to the 
Knowledge of themselves, and of the God of Nature, and their Duty to 
him, themselves, and one another, and every Thing that can contribute 
to their true Happiness, both here and hereafter. 

On 2 1 July we find Dr. Peters in New York preaching in 
Trinity Church and St. George's Chapel that day,® where " his 
audiences were great, and the sermons universally approved 
of" ; and we can picture him visiting Dr. Johnson amid his new 
classes, and teUing him of the success of the Philadelphia Acad- 
emy, not yet a College, and of their recent engagement with 
young William Smith, who gave promise of supplying that place 
in its administration which the Trustees had hoped Dr. Johnson 
would fill. 

From age and ill health Dr. Johnson resigned his Presi- 
dency in 1763, and retired to his beloved Stratford, where he 
passed his remaining years among his books and in continuance 
of his correspondence, leaving his parochial duties in its details 
largely to his assistant ; and died 6 January, 1772. His son wrote 
of him 

He died as he hadlived, with great composure and serenity of mind * * * 
He often wished, and repeated it the morning of his departure, that he 
might resemble!]in his death his friend, the late excellent Bishop Berkeley, 
whose virtues he labored to [imitate in his life and Heaven heard his 
prayer. 

Kings College suffered during the Revolution as did the 
University of Pennsylvania, but in 1787 it arose into freshened 
life under the new name of Columbia, and Dr. Johnson's eldest 
son, Hon. William^Samuel Johnson, was its first President, re- 
signing in 1800, 



8 The New< York Gazette of 22 July, 1754. 



136 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XIV. 

By the end of March, 1750, the Trustees entertaining hopes 
of Samuel Johnson for the head of the institution, on the 29th, 
" Resolved that the Academy be opened as soon as possible by 
accepting the most suitable Person that can be procured for a 
Rector," or chief Professor, and apparently having such in view 
it was "ordered that Mr. David Martin be acquainted with the 
above resolution and be requested to accept of the Rectorship 
and enter into it on the 13th of May next." No further Minute 
bears on this appointment, but the Treasurer's books show that 
Mr. Martin's remuneration began on 13 July in the sum of two 
hundred pounds per annum. This action confirms the state- 
ment that some higher functionary was desired besides the 
Rector, for when Mr. Martin's salary began it has been seen 
that negotiations were pending with Dr. Johnson, which the 
Trustees kept alive for more than a twelvemonth. The term 
Rector had been given at Yale at the outset to the head of the 
College, Rector or Master as some time alternatively used ; the 
Rector and Fellows, i. e. Tutors, his Fellows in tuition, was the 
style of the early Faculty, which became in 1745 the President 
and Fellows which it remains to this day. It was during the 
administration of Rector Clap, Franklin's correspondent, that 
this change of name took place at Harvard ; the head of the 
infant seminary Rev. Henry Dunster, took the office and was 
first stiled President in 1642, and the corporation under the 
charter of 1650 became the President and Fellows, the Overseers 
under the Act of 1642 remaining the governing body. 

Before the scholars could find accommodations, the Rector 
was secured, who could give his time to the Trustees in further- 
ance of their plans. Franklin in his Narrative of these events 
written perhaps forty years later describes this stage of the 
proceedings. ^ 

A house was hired, masters engaged, and the schools opened ; I 
think in the same year, 1749. The scholars increasing fast, the house was 

^ Bigelow, i. 225. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 137 

soon found too small, and we were looking out for a piece of ground, prop- 
erly situated, with intention to build, when Providence threw into our way^ 
a large house ready built, which with a few alterations might well serve our 
purpose. This was the building before mentioned, erected by the hearers 
of Mr. Whitefield. 

It has been affirmed there were at the time of this purchase 
some Charity School with its few scholars accommodated in 
this building, which led to Franklin in those later years relating 
without due exactness that his Academy had at once on its 
inception in 1749 begun with teachers and scholars, and hence 
the necessity of a larger building. But neither do the minutes 
nor the Treasurer's accounts confirm this, and indeed Franklin's 
letter to Mr. Eliot, of February, 1750, before quoted, leaves no 
room for any support of this statement. 

At this meeting of 29 March, it was also 

■Ordered that Messrs. Benjamin Franklin, William Allen, William Cole- 
man, Richard Peters, Thomas Hopkinson and Tench Francis be a Com- 
mittee to consider and report whether it be most convenient for the Pupils 
to pay a Gross Sum for being instructed in all the branches of Learning to 
be taught in the Academy or distinct sums for each. 

The results of their deliberations on this point were 
adopted at their meeting of 10 November following, when it 
was " Ordered, That the sum of twenty shillings quarterly, and 
twenty shillings entrance money, with a rateable share of the 
Expense of firing in the Winter Season, be paid by each Pupil, 
for which they may be instructed in any Branches of Learning to 
be taught at the Academy." Ere they were prepared to receive 
any Scholars or offer them any good tuition, many inquiries 
must have reached them early as to their procedure upon differ- 
ent details of their promising establishment ; for besides the 
above consideration of fees, they had made a minute at the pre- 
vious meeting, 6 February, 1750. 

The Trustees being informed that an Objection is made to that Arti- 
cle of the Constitution which relates to the Admission of Scholars, Declare 
that the said Article is not intended for any other purpose than to accom- 
modate the Number of Scholars to the number of Masters, and the cir- 



Mr. Sparks renders this, "when accident threw into our way, etc.," i. 159. 



138 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

cumstances of the Academy ; and that in every Admission a regard will 
be had to the Priority of Application, without any View to Sect or Party. 

It scarcely needed this affirmation to give the community 
the assurance that this very Catholic body of Trustees would 
countenance any favoritism in the admission of pupils according to 
the religious standing of the parent ; but it is quite possible that 
the purchase of the New Building with a reference to a Creed in 
the conveyance, and that Creed being as duly formally recorded 
as was the conveyance, may have led the unfriendly and the 
unsympathising to raise doubts in the minds of their friends as 
to the very broad and liberal scope the Founder desired to give 
to its operations. 

At the meeting of 27 July it was " Resolved that the Eng- 
lish Master's salary be increased from the sum of one hundred 
pounds to one hundred and fifty;" but this is the first minute 
defining a salary, and the sum originally named must have been 
agreed to informally ; perhaps thus early began those differences 
of opinion among the Trustees as to the proper eminence of 
English in the proposed curriculum which Franklin so stoutly 
contended for, not that it should take any precedence of the 
classics, but that it should be maintained with equal dignity 
through all the Academy course. 

But it was not until the meeting on 10 November that the 
Trustees felt confidence in naming a time for the opening ; their 
plans for a proper adaptation of the building to their purposes 
were to have been consummated for school uses in the usual 
Autumn term, but delays incident to such radical changes in 
construction as they found it necessary to make lost them these 
autumn months ; not discouraged, however, they proposed to 
lose no longer time than was essential to the comfort of their 
teachers and scholars, and would begin in midwinter ; and they 
ordered "That the Academy be opened on the Seventh day of 
January next, and the Rates of Learning and the opening be 
published in the Gazette a Fortnight hence." The Teachers 
were already under review, for we shall see that at their Decem- 
ber meeting they were prepared to act and to create a faculty 
for the Academy. The public announcement of the opening is 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 139 

couched in simple yet reverent language by the hands of the 
Founder, and we can perhaps imagine his hopes and expecta- 
tions and those of his co-workers when they read their institu- 
tion in print and found themselves committed to the public for 
the greatest venture in an educational line yet attempted in the 
Province. The time had not been misspent or misused since 
the announcement of his famed Proposals in the Gazette of 24 
August, 1749, but a steady progress had been made and the 
twenty-four Trustees had worked together with unanimity and 
harmony under a wise leadership, until they now found themselves 
well equipped to fulfill to the community all their promises. The 
advertisement appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette as follows : 

Phila. December 11. 1750 
Notice is hereby given, That the Trustees of the Academy of Phila- 
delphia, intend (God willing) to open the same on the first Monday oi Janu- 
ary n^tyiX. ; wherein Youth will be taught 'Ca.& Latin, Greek, English, French, 
and German Languages, together with History, Geography, Chronology, 
Logic, and Rhetoric ; also Writing, Arithmetic, Merchants Accounts, 
Geometry, Algebra, Surveying, Gauging, Navigation, Astronomy, Drawing 
in Perspective, and other mathematical Sciences ; with natural and 
mechanical Philosophy, &c, agreeable to the Constittitions heretoiore pub- 
lished, at the Rate of Foi^r Pouttds per annum, and Twenty Shillings 
entrance. 

On the day following the opening the Gazette contained 
the following account of it : 

Yesterday being the Day appointed for opening the Academy in this 
City, the Trustees met, and waited on His Honour our Governor, to the 
publick Hall of the Building, where the Rev Mr Peters made an excellent 
Sermon on the Occasion, to a crowded audience. The Rooms of the 
Academy not being yet compleatly fitted for the Reception of the Scholars 
the several Schools will be opened To-morrow, in a large House of Mr 
Allen's, on Second Street : Those who incline to enter their children or 
Youth, may apply to the Rector, or any one of the Trustees. 

At a subsequent meeting " the thanks of the Trustees were 
given by the President to the Rev Mr Peters for his excellent 
Sermon preached in the Academy Hall on the Seventh Day of 
January, at the opening of the Academy ; which was done 
accordingly. Mr Peters' consent being desired for the publica- 
tion of the said Sermon, he desires Time to consider thereof" ; 



140 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

which, however, he finally agreed to, as Franklin and Hall before 
the close of the year printed : 

A Sermon on Education wherein Some Account is given of the 
Academy Established in the City of Philadelphia. Preached at the open- 
ing thereof on the Seventh Day of January 1 750-1 By the Reverend Mr 
Richard Peters. 

Copies of this are now rare. The reasons for this delay he 
gives in his Preface which bears date 12 September : 

When I came to consider that a Detail was made of the Rise of the 
Academy, and of the several Matters proposed to be taught therein, and 
that it might be of great service to publish this, in order to remove mis- 
takes, and to enable the Publickto judge of its Usefulness and Seasonable- 
ness, I no longer hesitated to gratify you in the Publication, confident 
that your Adoption and Patronage will procure it a favorable Reception with 
my fellow citizens. 

It is an admirable Discourse on Education and eloquent in 
its adaptation to the particular circumstances which called it 
forth; and as it must be an instance of his pulpit powers, we 
feel a natural disappointment that we have left us so few of his 
sermons. From this Sermon previous quotations have been 
already given, when recording his views as to the foundation 
of the Academv. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 141 



XV. 

We have no knowledge of the number of scholars offering- 
at the opening, but an entry in the Treasurer's books shows those 
who first paid entrance money, namely, George Lea, William 
Peters, jun, and Richard Peters, the latter nephews of Rev 
Richard Peters. From Dr Peters Preface to his Opening Ser- 
mon, however, we obtain a gratifying sight of the progress of 
the work, 

It affords no small Delight to every one who has the Success of this 
Academy at Heart [he is writing in September] that though many Things 
promised in this Discourse remain to be done, yet there is already more 
effected than in so small a space of Time could have been reasonably 
expected. The Latin and English Masters give entire Satisfaction ; indeed 
the Progress made by the Boys in both schools is truly surprising ; each 
has now the Assistance of an Usher, made necessary by the Number of 
Boys, who, notwithstanding the prevalence of the Small Pox in Town, 
amount to above one Hundred. Masters are provided for teaching Writing 
and French. The Mathematical School is daily increasing. A Charity 
School is established. Proper Prayers are composed for the Schools and 
used every Morning and Evening. 

We cannot refrain from quoting his commendation of the 
Trustees : 

I must do you the justice to say that much of this is owing to your 
Care and the Regularity of your Visitations ; and I have no small Satisfac- 
tion in being able to be thus particular, since it must needs be agreeable to 
the Publick to know that the most necessary and useful Parts of the Scheme 
are in such Forwardness ; and that there are in the Academy, two good 
Grammar Schools, one in the English and one in the Latin Language. 
No small Benefit this to the Province ! as in these are laid the proper 
Foundations for the higher Attainments in Learning which will likewise be 
gone into when the Difficulties of the Masters arising from the preparing 
and classing so many Boys as are daily admitted from different schools, of 
different proficiencies, and taught by different Methods shall abate. 

Of the Rector, David Martin, M. A., we know but little;, 
he did not live to the end of the year; and in the Pennsylvania 
Gazette of 17 December 175 1 we find the simple record "Wed- 
nesday last died, greatly respected, Mr. David Martin, Rector 
of the Academy in this City." The Minutes of ii December 



142 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

record " upon occasion of the sudden Decease of Mr Martin, the 
Trustees met to consider of some Person to supply his place in 
the Latin School." We learn a little more of his death, and 
the action of the Trustees from Franklin's letter of 24 December, 
175 I, to Rev Dr Johnson.^ 

I wrote to you in my last that Mr. Martin our Rector died suddenly 
of a quinsy. His body was carried to the church, respectfully attended by 
the trustees, all the masters and scholars in their order, and a great num- 
ber of the citizens. Mr. Peters preached his funeral sermon, and gave him 
the just and honorable character he deserved. The schools are now broke 
up for Christmas, and will not meet again till the 7th of January. Mr. 
Peters took care of the Latin and Greek School after Mr. Martin's death 
till the breaking up. And Mr. Allison, a dissenting minister, has prom- 
ised to continue that care for a month after the next meeting. 

He was buried in Christ Church Burying Ground 13 
December, but no stone marks the place of burial of the first 
Rector of the Academy. 

The Rector's assistants were decided upon at the meeting 
of 17 December, 1750, in the following Minutes : 

Mr. David James Dove having lately come hither from England 
where the Trustees are informed he had the care of a School for many 
years, and having offered himself for an English Master, The Trustees 
being in a great measure strangers to him do order that he be accepted for 
the English Master in the Academy for one year, to commence on the 
seventh day of January next, for the Sallary of one hundred and fifty 
pounds in order to make Tryal of his care and ability. 

Mr. Theophilus Grew having offered himself as a Master in the 
Academy to teach Writing, Arithmetic, Merchants Accounts, Algebra, 
Astronomy, Navigation, and all other Branches of the Mathematics ; it is 
ordered that he be received as such at the rate of one hundred and twenty- 
five pounds a year, his service to commence on the Seventh day of January 
next 

Mr. Charles Thomson having offered himself as a Tutor in the Latin 
and Greek School, and having been examined and approved of by the 
Rector, is admitted as a Tutor in the Latin and Greek school at the rate of 
sixty pounds a year, to commence on the seventh day of January next. 

1 Beardsley, i66. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 143 

XVI. 

David James Dove, the English Master, is best known to 
us by the criticism on him by his young pupil Richard Peters 
who in later years described him as a "sarcastical and ill-tem- 
pered doggerelizer, who was but ironically Dove ; for his temper 
was that of a hawk, and his pen the beak of a falcon pouncing 
on innocent prey." This reference is to the part he took in all 
the political issues of the day with his caustic rhymes. Graydon 
tells' us ^ he was 

much celebrated in his day as a teacher, and no less as a dealer in the 
minor kind of satirical poetry. * * * It was his practice in his school, to 
substitute disgrace for corporal punishment. His birch was rarely used in 
canonical method, but was generally stuck into the back part of the collar 
of the unfortunate culprit, who, with this badge of disgrace towering from 
his nape like a broom at the mast head of a vessel for sale, was compelled 
to take his stand upon the top of the form, for such a period of time as his 
offence was thought to deserve. 

Graydon was a pupil at his school about 1759 or 1760, from 
whence he went to the Academy; and these practices of Mr. 
Dove doubtless were displayed when he was at the Academy. 
He tells us Dove's school was " at this time, kept in Videll's 
Alley, which opened into Second, a little below Chestnut Street. 
It counted a number of scholars of both sexes, though chiefly 
boys." 

Whether the duties of the Academy did not fully employ 
his talents, or his ambition found but little promise in its routine, 
he sought occupation to add to these stated duties. We find his 
advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette 29 August 175 i : 

As the Scheme formed by the Gentlemen of Philadelphia, for the 
regular Education of their Sons, has been happily carried into Execution ; 
the Ladies excited by the laudable example, are solicitous that their Daugh- 
ters too might be instructed in some Parts of Learning, as they are taught 
in the Academy. Mr Dove proposes to open a school at said Academy for 
young Ladies, on Monday next, in which will be carefully taught the Eng- 
lish Grammar ; the true Way of Spelling, and Pronouncing properly ; 
together with fair Writing, Arithmetick, and Accounts : So that the Plan 



^ Memoirs, pp. 24, 25. 



144 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

recommended by the Universal Spectator may be exactly pursued. Price 
Ten Shillings Entrance and Twenty Shillings per Quarter. 

No reference is made in the Minutes of the Trustees to this, 
but their assent must have been had to the scheme. On lo 
December 175 1, a minute records. 

There being above 90 Scholars now in the English School, and Mr. 
Dove having declared he found it impossible duly to instruct so great a 
number without another Assistant, the Trustees agreed to accept of one Mr 
Francis Peisley, who offered himself, and who Mr. Dove represented as a 
Person well qualified for a Tutor in that School, and to allow him at the 
Rate of ^50. per annum 

His first assistant was John Jones who had been appointed 
on 25 September. Before an assistant was given him, the Trus- 
tees had voted him 9 July, 175 i, 

an allowance, in consideration of his extraordinary Trouble in teaching a 
greater Number of Scholars for some time past than by the Constitu- 
tions he is obliged to do, and for the Board of a Lad whom he entertained 
for some time as an assistant, in the sum of Ten pounds. 

At the meeting of 9 June 1752, reference was made to Mr. 
Peisley's departure, and there still being "above Ninety Scholars 
in the English School," and Mr. Jones, the remaining assistant 
not being sufficient, the President was desired to confer with him 
about providing another. But at the meeting of 10 October it 
was represented that 

Mr Dove had since Mr. Peisley' s Departure caused two of the most 
capable Boys in his School to assist him in teaching the Younger Scholars, 
acquainted the Trustees that he was willing to continue that Method if they 
approve thereof, and agree to make the said Boys a suitable allowance for 
their trouble. But upon considering the matter, the Trustees are of Opin- 
ion, it would be more advantageous to the School that a good Usher should 
be provided. 

At the meeting of 1 5 .November we find recorded the names 
of these "two of the most capable boys," namely, Edward Bid- 
die and William Scull, who were allowed Twenty Dollars each 
as a Reward for assisting Mr. Dove. 

But the cause for Mr Dove's anxiety for two ushers is found 
in a preceding minute of the same meeting, which testifies to his 
continuance of his own school. " The Trustees being- informed 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 145 

that Mr Dove makes a Practice of leaving his School at Eleven 
o'clock in the morning, and at four in the afternoon ; and such 
frequent absences of the Master being thought a Disadvantage 
to the School, Mr Franklin and Mr Peters are desired to speak 
to him about it, and request his Attendance during the School 
Hours." At the following meeting these gentlemen reported 
that " Mr Dove acknowledged what had been reported of him 
concerning his leaving the School, and that he seemed desirous 
of being indulged in that practice, but the Trustees considered 
it as of bad example and too great a Neglect of the children 
under his care, and desired him to be informed they would expect 
he will attend the School at the appointed Hours." Mr Dove, 
anxious to maintain his school, made a proposition for other 
hours, but finally on 13 February 1753 

the Trustees having fully considered this Request and the ill Consequence 
such an indulgence would be attended with, adhered to their former opin- 
ion ; * * •» and as he had said, in Case his present Request was not 
granted he would continue to take care of the School for a Quarter, or till 
they could provide another Master, so they, on their Part, would give him 
a Quarter' s notice when they had provided. 

On 10 July following Mr Kinnersley was provided for the 
Enghsh school, and Mr Dove was relieved. The detail of this 
transaction illustrates the care and watchfulness of the Trustees 
over the labors of their Teachers and Ushers. And it is also in 
some measure a testimony to Mr. Dove's merits and abilities as 
a teacher that they dealt so patiently with him, not wishing to 
lose his services on any peremptory notice. Franklin's senti- 
ments regarding him were testified to in his letter of 24 Decem- 
ber, 175 I, to Dr. Johnson, where he says, 

The Enghsh master is Mr Dove, a gentleman about your age, who 
formerly taught grammar sixteen years at Chichester in England. He is 
an excellent master, and his scholars have made a surprising progress.^ 

In later years, upon the discontinuance of the Videll's Alley 
School, he opened a private academy in Germantown in the 
house yet standing immediately west of the Germantown Academy, 
wherein however he was not very successful. He had taken 

^ Beardsley, p. i66. 



146 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

lodgers in his house ; besides the lad he entertained who had 
assisted him, he at one time lodged Charles Thomson, the young 
Tutor, but Thomson found his hosts uncongenial and soon 
sought other quarters. The first EngHsh Master mads a history 
for himself, other than the records of the Academy display, in 
teaching Graydon and being associated with Thomson, two his- 
toric characters whose writings have commemorated him, but 
not in flattering terms. 

Theophilus Grew styled himself " Mathematical Profes- 
sor at the Academy in Philadelphia" where he "asks commu- 
nications of observations on Eclipse of the Moon next Tues- 
day" from the public in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 23 May, 
1 75 I, and he thus officially signs the Constitution. Thus if his 
claim be admitted, we must put him third in the long list of 
Professors, as Martin and Dove who precede him in nomi- 
nation must be allowed his peers in rank. But as he was at 
the meeting of the Trustees on ii July, 1755, " unanimously 
elected Mathematical Professor," the confirmation of his title is 
assured. A later advertisement indicates that pupils to the 
new Academy were offering from the interior and from other 
places, as indeed did Mr. Dove's lodgers as well : "Youth for 
the Academy may be boarded in Arch Street, at the House of 
Theophilus Grew, Mathematical Professor," we are informed 
in the Pennsylva7iia Gazette oi 14 November, 175 1. He pur- 
sued the even tenor of his way, following in his leisure hours 
scientific studies instead of indulging in political rhymes, and 
developing no pecularities which a Thomson or a Graydon found 
worthy of record. In Dove's successor Kinnersley, and with 
Franklin, the President of the Board of Trustees, the Mathe- 
matical Professor found congenial friends, and remained in the 
service of the institution until his death in 1759. Provost Smith 
in his account of the Academy in the Atnerican Magazine for 
October, 1758, speaks of him as " having so long been an 
approved teacher of Mathematics and Astronomy in this city, 
that 1 need say nothing to make him better known than he is 
already." His tomb stone in Christ Church Burying Ground 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 147 

erected over his remains which were laid within a few feet of 
the Academy Building where he so worthily taught, is but par- 
tially decipherable at this day. 

Here lies interred 

the Body of 

Mr Theophilus Grew. 

He distinguished himself in Life by 

many exemplary Virtues 
and many valuable Qualifications. 

He was very deeply learned 
in Astronomy and the Mathematics 

Avhereby he rendered himself 

a most useful Member of Society 

He served as Professor of 

those noble sciences 

in the College of this City. 

He discharged the trust with 

honor and integrity. 

Charles Thomson, born in November 1729 a native of 
Ireland, became the first Tutor of the Academy when he was 
twenty-one years of age. He crossed the ocean with his father 
when but ten years of age, and his father dying at sea, he and 
an elder brother landed at New Castle orphans among strangers. 
By his peculiar energies he seized favorable opportunities for 
schooling, and was at one time under the tuition of the Rev. 
Francis Alison, also an Irishman, at his school at Thunder Hill, 
Maryland, and who succeeded Mr. Martin as Rector of the 
Academy. While here a schoolmate returning from Philadel- 
phia brought with him a volume of the Spectator : he read it 
with such delight, that learning an entire set could be purchased 
for the amount of the small sum he had at command, he set off 
without asking permission on foot to Philadelphia to purchase 
it.^ His truancy was excused in consideration of its motive. 
This recalls to us the fascination Franklin found in this work. 
May it not be that his visit to Philadelphia brought him ac- 
quainted with Franklin at a time the Academy was being 
formed, and he was led eventually to offer himself to the Trus- 



^ Duyckinck, i. 170. 



148 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

tees as a Tutor in Latin and Greek, when he was accepted after 
due examination and proof by the Rector. Dr. Ashbel Green, 
President of Princeton College, in his Autobiography said of 
him in after years " he was one of the best classical scholars 
our country has ever produced." Young Thomson continued 
Tutor until his resignation in the spring of 1755, when we find 
by the Minutes of 17 March 

a letter to the Trustees from Mr. Charles Thomson, one of the Tutors in 
the Latin School, was read, acquainting them with his Intention of leaving 
the Academy within two or three Months, having a Design to apply him- 
self to other Business ; Mr. Peters was therefore desired to assist Mr. 
Alison in providing another in his Room. The Trustees at the same 
Time, declared themselves well satisfied that the said Mr. Thomson had 
discharged the Duties of his Place with Capacity, Faithfulness and 
Diligence. 

But the " other business " did not prevail, as we find him in the 
September following engaging himself as teacher in the Friends 
Publick School, then located on Fourth Street below Chestnut. 
It is not requisite that his life should be further sketched here, but 
reference must be made to the fact that it was the first tutor in 
the Academy who became the Secretary to Congress from 1774 
to the close of the war, the " Perpetual Secretary " as he was often 
called. The acquaintance formed with Franklin through his con- 
nection with the Academy ripened into mutual esteem and con- 
tinued through life, and their correspondence whether as friend 
to friend or as Secretary to Ambassador breathes on Franklin's 
part a warm appreciation of the younger man's faithfulness and 
intelligence. In his letter written from Passy, 13 May, 1784, 
on the Ratification of the Definitive Treaty with England, so 
full of patriotic advice to his countrymen now acknowledged by 
the parent to be free, and to be a Nation of like independence 
with her, he says to Thomson ^ " Thus the great and hazardous 
enterprise we have been engaged in, is, God be praised, happily 
compleated ; an event I hardly expected, I should live to see." 
But it was in a different tone that he wrote to his " Dear Old 



* Bigelow, viii. 492. Also, for the Thomson correspondence, vide N. Y. 
Historical Society's Collections for 1878, p. 185. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 149 

Friend" Thomson on 29 December, 1788, after his return 
home, upon the subject of his own public services which he 
deemed and with justice had not met with that recognition 
which they merited. No one but he at that day could weigh 
with accuracy the sum of those services as well as he, but later 
history has realised what was done by him in those weary and 
anxious years when for his country's sake he was exiled from 
the comforts of his home. 

My good friend, excuse, if you can, the trouble of this Letter ; and if 
the reproach thrown on Republicks, that they are apt to be ungrateful, 
should ever unfortunately be verified with respect to your services, remem- 
ber that you have the right to unbosom yourself in communicating your 
griefs to your affectionate ancient friend and most obed. humble ser- 
vant, B. Franklin.^ 

Charles Thomson employed his later years in a translation 
of the entire Bible, an excellent contribution to Biblical literature ; 
this was printed in four volumes in Philadelphia in 180S. His 
own copy of this admirable version with his latest MS. cor- 
rections is in the Philadelphia Library. He lived to the age of 
94, dying 16 August, 1824. His is one of the most interesting 
characters figuring in Revolutionary scenes, and is worthy of 
study by every young man. At the treaty with the Indians 
at Easton in 1757, they named him in their language 
" The Man of Truth," which clung to him always; and upon 
doubtful tidings and uncertain rumors prevailing, his friends 
would say of him " Here comes the truth: here is Charles 
Thomson!" Thomson married secondly in 1774 Hannah 
Harrison a niece of Isaac Norris, the Speaker, for many years a 
Trustee of the College and Academy. He was called to the 
Secretaryship of Congress the day after his wedding ; his notes 
of its proceedings were taken in short hand, and on his return 
home from Philadelphia in the evening to Harriton it was this 
faithful wife who wrote out from them the Minutes of Congress. 



5 Bigelow, X. 29. N. Y. Historical Society's Collections, 1878, p. 248. 



150 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XVI. 

Six months from the opening of the Academy had only- 
elapsed when a second Tutor was engaged ; the Minutes of 9 
July, 175 I, recording " Mr. John Jones, late of Connecticut of- 
fering himself for a Tutor under Mr. Dove in the English 
School, the Trustees have agreed with him for one quarter, at 
the rate of Fifty pounds per annum;" this quarter proved his 
capacity, and we find that in a twelvemonth (14 July, 1752) the 
Trustees on his request " for an augmentation of his salary de- 
clared their willingness to add Ten pounds per annum to his 
salary." The Mathematical Professor needing aid for his writ- 
ing lessons, we find that at the same meeting Mr, John Jones 
was appointed. 

"Mr. Horace Jones, late of Chester County, offering himself upon 
Tryal for three months, as an Assistant to Mr. Grew, and the Trustees 
present having seen a specimen of his Writing, agree to make Tryal of him, 
for that Time, and to allow him after the Rate of Fifty pounds per annum." 

At the meeting in February following his salary was like- 
wise increased ten pounds. On 21 September, 1752, Theophilus 
Grew and Horace Jones advertise in the Petinsylvaiiia Gazette 
"on Monday, the ninth of October next, at the house of Mr. 
Atkinson, in Second street, and opposite to Mr. Boudinot's, an 
Evening School is intended to be open'd for teaching of Writing, 
AntJimetick, Navigation, Surveying, Algebra, and other parts of 
the MatJiematicks, and to continue until the middle of March 
next. Those who incline to be instructed, are desir'd to give in 
their names immediately to either of the Subscribers, living in 
Arch Street." This was repeated in substance the year follow- 
ing, and the effort was a success. ' Night Schools were now rend- 
ered safer by the lighted streets. " Monday night last the 
streets of this city began to be illuminated with lamps, in Pur- 
suance of a late Act of Assembly." Pennsylvania Gazette 12 
September, 1751. But these were not safe from the lively boys 
of the town. " Last week a Person was convicted of breaking 
one of the Public Lamps, by throwing an Apple at it, and paid a 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 151 

Fine of Forty Shillings." Gazette 3 October, 175 1. This is the 
first mark an apple has made in local history. 

At the meeting of 10 December following, the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Peisley followed, as before stated ; but he remained 
only until the following summer as we find from the Treasurer's 
accounts ; and before his place was supplied Mr. Dove had the 
opportunity of calling upon two of his young pupils, Biddle and 
Scull, to assist him as previously related. Before Mr. Peisley's 
departure we find in the Minutes of 21 April, 1752 : 

The number of Scholars now in the Latin School requiring that 
another Tutor should be provided, and Mr. Alison having recommended 
one Mr. Paul Jackson as a person well qualified, the Trustees present 
agree to accept of him, and allow him at the Rate of Sixty Pounds per an- 
num. 

He continued as Tutor until 1756. The next in order is 
Patrick Carroll, who in the minutes of 9 June, 1752, it is said, 
" has for some time assisted Mr. Price in the Charity School," 
we find by the minutes of 12 December is " now employed as 
an Usher under Mr. Dove," but he continued only until Novem- 
ber, 1753, when lack of scholars in the English school made his 
services no longer needed. The next tutors were young Barton 
and Duche ; but before our narrative reaches their time, other 
details of the early working of the Academy call for mention, 
and we have yet to enter upon the second Rectorship. How- 
ever we must not overlook the opening exercises of the second 
year of which the Minutes take no note. Franklin makes a note 
of it in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 7 January, 1752. 

Yesterday being the anniversary of the opening of the Academy in 
this city, an excellent Sermon was preached on the occasion by the 
Reverend Mr. Peters, in the Academy Hall, from these words, Luke, ii, 
52. And Jestis increased in Wisdom and Statttre atid in Favour with God 
and Man. 



152 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XVII. 

The Charity School was set on foot before the first term had 
expired, but could not be accomplished without a proper head. 
At the meeting of 9 April, 175 1 "The Trustees taking into 
consideration that, by their Engagements, the Charity School 
ought to be open'd very speedily; and it being mentioned that 
Mr. Martin had recommended some person in Trenton who 
was well qualified for Master of such a school, the President is 
desired to speak to Mr. Martin to write to that person in order 
to know whether he will accept of that charge, and upon what 
terms." Mr. Martin wrote in compliance with this request, but 
at the May meeting he was not able to report an answer. At 
the June meeting " it appearing to the Trustees that the Person 
formerly proposed for Master of the Charity School, is not so 
well qualified as could be wished, and that his Terms are high, 
some other person is to be sought for to undertake that charge." 
The some other person came in time in George Price. The 
Trustees on 13 August, 1757, reported "having made a pro- 
posal to George Price to teach a Charity School consisting of 
twenty Boys, and do some services in the other schools, for the 
consideration of Thirty Pounds per annum, to be paid him, 
besides his House Rent and Living during the Winter Season ; 
which proposal he desired some Time to consider of But 
having since signified his Willingness to accept of the Terms 
offer' d him the President is requested to reduce the Agreement 
to Writing, and get the said Price to sign it." And " publick 
advertizement " was directed to be made, so soon as the Trus- 
tees were ready to open a Charity School. Accordingly the 
announcement was made in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 12 
September, 175 i. 

By Order of the Trustees of the Academy 
Notice is hereby given, That on Monday, the i6th of this instant Septem- 
ber, a Free-School will be open' d (under their Care and Direction) at 
the New Buitdittg, for the Instruction of poor Children gratis in Reading, 
Writing, and Arithmetic. Those who are desirous of having their chil- 
dren admitted, may apply to any of the Trustees. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 153 

The " some services in the other schools " may have had 
reference to other than strictly scholastic services, if the minute 
of 10 September is any indication of their character. 

The Trustees considering that no Reward, except having Rent free, 
has been yet given to George Price, for his Care and Trouble in removing 
the Rubbish occasioned by Workmen, sweeping the Schools, making and 
putting out the fires, and other services performed by him, from the first 
opening of the Academy: It is ordered, That the Sum of Five Pounds be 
paid to the said George Price for the said Services. 

His efficiency and zeal were successful in the management 
of the School, as on 12 April, 1752, it is recorded "The Trus- 
tees being willing to take more poor Children into the Charity 
School, the President is desired to make Enquiry for some fit 
Person to assist the Master of that School." And at the June 
meeting, •' Patrick Carroll, who for some time has assisted Mr. 
Price in the Charity School, was allowed at the rate of Forty- 
five pounds per annum for his services in the said School." Mr. 
Carroll subsequently became, as before mentioned, a Tutor in 
the English School, his place was supplied 12 December, 1752, 
by Mr. John Ormsby, " who offered himself as a tutor in the 
Charity School," and was accepted, and on like terms as those 
paid Carroll. Mr. Price also had the assistance of Mr. A. Dunn 
for a few weeks, he being paid " two pounds, twelve shillings 
for three weeks attendance in the Charity School, his affairs now 
calling him beyond Sea." The Charity School was kept before 
the Community and public means were availed of to secure a 
better support for it. The Pennsylvania Gazette of 19 April, 
1753 tells us : 

Monday last an Excellent Sermon was preached in the Academy 
Hall by the Rev. Mr. Peters, on the Charity, Necessity and Advantages 
of providing suitable Means of Education for the Children of the Poor; 
when a Collection was made towards the Support of the Free School in the 
Academy amounting to ^95.12.8 Halfpenny. 



154 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XVIII. 

The Trustees did not weary in their well doing ; their 
meetings were well attended, the faithful President being always 
on hand, inspiring the others to worthy motions though his hand 
is not visible ; yet sometimes they were without a quorum, and 
to secure this it was on 21 April, 1752, 

Agreed by the Trustees present to pay a Fine of One Shilling, if absent at 
any Meeting, unless such Excuse be given as the Majority shall judge 
reasonable. The Money to be applied towards buying Books, Paper, &c 
for the Scholars in the Charity School. 

This was affirmed at their meeting of 25 May, 1754, but 
the fine was then made absolute, of " one shilling, to be laid out 
in paper, quills, books, &c, for the use of the Charity School." 
The rule obtaining in the Constitutions requiring that " nothing 
be transacted by the Trustees unless it be voted by a Majority 
of the whole Number, which as experience has been found 
highly inconvenient, in regard to the difficulty of so great a 
Number's meeting " it was on 27 July, 1750 

Resolved, Nemine contradicente, that a Majority of the Trustees met 
(that Majority not being less than seven, or on a meeting of seven if they 
all agree) shall have power to order and transact any business relating to 
the Academy or its Government except the alteration of the Constitutions or 
making Contracts, whereby the Publick money may be expended. 

And on 9 April, 175 i they " agree to meet the second Tuesday 
in every month. The time of Meeting to be at four o'clock in 
the afternoon." 

The Trustees attention to the well being of the Academy, 
even to many of its minor details, brought them sometimes to 
be administrators as well as formulators of discipline ; though 
this may have been more notable in the interregnum between the 
first two Rectorships. It was on 1 1 February, 1752," Agreed, that 
no holidays be solicited for the Boys by any of the Trustees 
separately." This was modified, probably under the judicious 
but calculating advice of the new Rector, for at the meetino of 
21 April following it was 
Agreed unanimously that no Holdiday be granted to the Scholars at the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 155 

request of any Person, unless at the same time he made a present to the 
Academy of a Book of Ten Shillings value : The Masters to be made ac- 
quainted with this Rule. 

Graydon gives some account of the pranks of the boys 
when he attended the College and Academy, a few years later 
than this, which certainly were not new in his day ; the boys of 
175 1 were but the forerunners of those of 1760 and of many 
succeeding years. The only reference to their doings in the 
formal minutes of the Trustees may be the entry of 1 5 Novem- 
ber 1752, "Agreed that a small Ladder be bought, to be always 
at hand for the Conveniency of mending the Windows." Per- 
haps the person who broke one of the new street lamps in the 
preceding October with an apple was a matriculant at the Acad- 
emy, and led his classmates in practice on the windows of the 
New Building, to repair which it was found convenient to keep 
a ladder " always at hand for the conveniency of mending 
them." 



XIX. 

Death entered early among the Trustees, for James Logan 
and Thomas Hopkinson died within a few days of each other,, 
the one on 31 October and the other on 5 November, 175 i, and 
in less than six weeks the Rector was numbered with them. 
Both were a loss to their associates, and to Franklin especially 
the death of Hopkinson must have left a vacancy in his own 
circle of friends difficult of replacement, for they had been asso- 
ciated together in matters of science and of beneficence. The 
Trustees met on 12 December, 1751, and proceeded to fill the 
vacancies without any note or comment, no encomium or eulogy 
expressed the sense of their loss. " Two of the Trustees, to 
wit, James Logan, Esq/ and Thomas Hopkinson being deceased, 
Isaac Norris, Esq and Thomas Cadwalader were chosen in their 



156 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Room, by a JMajority of Votes." The influence wielded by 
Logan on behalf of the Academy could well be carried on by 
his son-in-law, Isaac Norris, the foremost Friend of his day ; 
and Hopkinson's tastes for science would find just representa- 
tion in Cadwalader who a few years later could exert his in- 
fluence toward the development of the Medical Department of 
the College and Academy. Some notice of these two promi- 
nent worthies must be given here, before we look further into 
the work of the growing institution in whose direction they 
were now to participate. 

Isaac Norris, son of Isaac Norris, the Councillor, was 
born in Philadelphia, 3 October, 1701. His father brought him 
up to a mercantile life, after fitting him by a trained education 
to take his proper place among his fellows 

He was endowed with good natural abilities, had received an excellent 
education, and might indeed be called learned ; for, in addition to a 
knowledge of Hebrew, he wrote in Latin and French with ease, and his 
reading was extensive. He possessed a fine library containing many of 
the best editions of the classics, and was a liberal patron of literature. ^ 

He had twice visited Europe for travel, and in 1743 he retired 
from mercantile life, and as he expressed it "lived downright in 
the country way." But before this his talents and aptitude for 
public affairs, call them politics if you will, brought him before 
his fellow townsmen prominentl}^, and he had been sent to the 
Assembly in 1734. He here encountered as a staunch Friend 
the demands of the provincial government for money to arm the 
colony against the foreign enemy, and resisted and successfully 
opposed the requisition. He became the leader of the Quaker 
party. The Proprietaries now were Churchmen and personally 
had lost the respect of their great ancestor's co-religionists. 
The Friends had in 17 10 granted a sum to Queen Anne for the 
reduction of Canada, but it was accompanied by an explanation 
that their principles forbad war, but commanded them to pay 
tribute and yield obedience to the power God had set over them 
in all things so far as their religious persuasions would permit. 
But now, they were not willing to place funds for such purpose 

1 Geo. W. Norris, M. D., in Penn' a Magazine^ i. 449. 



History of the University of Pennyslvania. 157 

in the hands and power of the Governor and his friends. But 
finally in 1739, the Assembly yielded to the importunities 
for money, and voted ^^3000, to Isaac Norris, his brother in 
law Thomas Griffitts, Thomas Leech, John Stamper and Edward 
Bradley, "for the use of King George II." There were now 
beginning the dissensions arising out of the claims of the Pro- 
prietaries that all their lands should be exempt from provincial 
taxation, which grew into a grave occasion of opposition to their 
government in time, and the tie of religion being sundered, this 
opposition to the Proprietaries on account of their exceeding 
selfishness eventually placed Pennsylvania in the front of the 
contests of the Revolution. Norris was a member also of the 
Assemblies of 1740 and 1741, and in 1742, in the latter year 
occurring the riotous scene at the election, due it was said to 
the machinations of the Governor, in which however Norris was 
returned to the Assembly. In 1745 he was with Kinsey and 
Lawrence appointed by the Governor a commissioner to repre- 
sent Pennsylvania at the conference with the Indians at Albany. 
And in 1755 he was again sent to Albany as a like commissioner 
to treat with the Indians. 

Continuing a member of the Assembly, he succeeded John 
Kinsey as Speaker in September 175 1, and in that year he 
directed the legend for the new State House Bell which became 
so prophetic, though perhaps at the time he would have shrunk 
from the application made of it in 1776. He continued Speaker 
of the House fifteen years. The contest between the people 
and the Proprietaries grew during this period, and Norris at the 
head of the Quakers was firmly opposed to their privileges as 
they claimed them. In 1757, the Assembly resolved to send 
him and Franklin to England to solicit the removal of griev- 
ances arising out of the Proprietary instructions to their Gover- 
nors, such as forbidding them to sanction any bill for the reve- 
nue which did not exempt their property from taxation and the 
like ; but on account of ill health he dechned the appointment, 
so that Franklin undertook it alone. His opposition to their 
encroachments, however, did not lead him to desire the 
exchange of a Royal Government for a Proprietary, and when 



158 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

in 1764 a petition to this effect passed the Assembly, he resigned 
the Speakership, rather than as Speaker sign the petition to the 
Crown for the change and Franklin was chosen Speaker in his 
place and signed the petition. FrankHn could see no remedy 
for the trouble but in the substitution of a Royal Government 
in the place of one by a privileged Family ; but not many years 
elapsed before he himself acknowledged that there was as little 
dependence to be placed upon the so called paternal govern- 
ment of a King. It was in this contest that we find Franklin's 
mind developing those great principles which he eventually had 
to apply to our national affairs and which became in the logic 
of events the unanswerable argument for our Independence, 
while such men as Norris and his son-in-law John Dickinson, 
alike pure and patriotic as was Franklin, stopped short of the 
realisation of those principles of true Government which all of 
English blood are expected to uphold. By the strange contra- 
rieties of popular suffrage, Franklin was not returned to the 
next assembly, only however by a minority of twenty-five in a 
vote of nearly four thousand, while Norris, who contrary to his 
wishes had been placed on the County Ticket was again chosen 
to the Assembly, and again became the Speaker, while Frank- 
lin, the majority in the Assembly remaining unbroken, was 
chosen Colonial Agent and carried abroad the petition for 
redress against the claims of the Proprietaries. Isaac Norris 
shortly again resigned the Speakership on 24 October 1764; 
and on 13 July, 1776, he died at his seat, Fair Hill. It was 
justly said of him by a cotemporary, " That in all his long 
public career he never asked a vote to get into the House, or 
solicited any member for posts of advantage or employment." 
His public duties forbad him, in the want of robust health, 
from attending with any diligence to the duties of his Trustee- 
ship of the College and Academy, and his service therein con- 
tinued less than four years. At the meeting of the Trustees of 
II February, 1755, this minute appears: 

As Isaac Norris, Esqr had never met the Trustees but once since his 
being chosen, and, it was said, had intimated he could not conveniently 
attend at their Meetings, Mr. Peters was desired to write to him, and 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 159 

acquaint him that the Trustees were endeavoring to obtain a new Charter 
confirming the former with some Additions, and were desirous to know 
whether it would be agreeable to him that his Name should be inserted 
therein. 

Mr. Peters produced his reply at the next meeting, which 
was as follows ; and which was 

order' d to be enter' d on the Minutes. 
Respected Friend, Richard Peters 

I can have no Objection to the Qualification to the Govmt as we take 
it every year before we are instituted to our Seats in the Assembly, neither 
have I any objection to any other Part of the Academical Institution, but 
heartily wish you success in it. My Distance from Town, and the Ails I 
have, make it very inconvenient to me to attend the Duty of a Trustee, 
and therefore I request the Gent' " will be pleased to accept my Resignation 
of that Trust. 

I return them my Thanks for the Favours they have already shewn 
me by inserting my Name in their former Charter, and am Their and 

Yr Assd Fr' d 
Feby 25 1755 Isaac Norris. 

On a previous page was narrated his connection with the 
Friends Publick School, and the cause of their desire for his 
resignation from the Board of Overseers. Strong Friend as he 
always was, he was unwilling to confine his influence in the 
favor of a public education to the seemingly narrow limits his 
Society had marked out for the instruction of their Youth. 

His two sons died in infancy. His daughter Mary became 
the wife of John Dickinson, the famous author of A Farmer's 
Letters, and whose Mother was sister of Dr. Thomas Cadwal- 
ader. It was while Dickinson was President of Pennsylvania, 
that he " presented Dickinson College, Carlisle, with the prin- 
cipal part of the library of the late Isaac Norris, Esq., consisting 
of about 1500 volumes upon the most important subjects."" 

Dr. Thomas Cadwalader was born in Philadelphia in 1707 
the son of John Cadwalader, who came to Pennsylvania from 
Pembrokeshire and married in 1699 the daughter of Dr Edward 
Jones of Lower Merion, then in Philadelphia County, one of the 



2 Penn'a Gazette, 27 Octo., 1784. 



i6o History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

earliest practitioners of medicine in the Province. Young Cad- 
walader received his early education at the Friends Publick 
School then under the charge of Thomas Makin. Later, his 
father sent him to England to pursue his studies as a physician, 
spending a year in the study of anatomy under Chesselden and 
returning home about 1731. He at once took an active part in 
practical movements, and as he was about the age of Franklin, 
perhaps the youngest of the coterie which gathered around him, 
he was drawn into the same line of activities, and at once threw 
his interests with those who were then forming the new Library 
company, in which he was a Director many years. Watson* 
names him as one of the physicians inoculating for the small 
pox in the Winter of 1736-7, others being Doctors Zachary, 
Shippen, and Bond, afterwards his fellow Trustees in the Academy 
and College. 

Marrying in 1738 a daughter of John Lambert of New 
Jersey, he appears to have taken up his residence in that province 
about that time, and when in 1746 Governor Belcher granted a 
Borough charter to Trenton, he was chosen the first Burgess. 
When four years later the citizens surrendered this charter, Dr 
Cadwalader shortly thereafter returned to Philadelphia and upon 
the death of Thomas Hopkinson he was chosen 12 November, 
175 I, upon Franklin's nomination, a Trustee of the Academy to 
succeed him ; and in the same year he was elected a member of 
the Common Council of Philadelphia and there served until 
1774. In 1755 he was called to the Provincial Council at the 
same time as were John Mifflin and Benjamin Chew who a few 
years later became his fellow Trustees. He was a member of 
the Philosophical Society for many years, and in 1765 became a 
member of the Provincial Council ; and during the Revolution 
became a Medical Director in the Army. As one of the physi- 
cians to the new Hospital, he gave there a course of medical 
lectures.^ He was a signer of the Non-Importation Article in 
1765, but his age precluded him from an active participation in 



' Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, i. 373. 

* •'In 1750 he had the honor of preparing the first systematic course of Medi- 
cal lectures to be delivered in a Philadelphia College." Dr. Morton, pp. 446, 458.. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. i6i 

the affairs of the Revolution. In July, 1776, he was appointed 
by the Committee of Safety with Drs. Bond, Shippen, jr. and 
Rush a committee for the examination of all the candidates who 
applied to be surgeons in the Navy ; and he was also appointed 
a Medical Director of the Army Hospitals, and in 1778 suc- 
ceeded the elder Dr. Shippen as Surgeon of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital. 

Though a resident of Philadelphia the greater portion of 
his life, Dr Cadwalader retained his farm near Trenton, called 
Greenwood, to which he frequently resorted, and here he died 14 
November, 1779, but two months after the abrogation of the 
charter of the Academy and College of which he had been a dili- 
gent and faithful Trustee for nearly twenty eight years. Though 
he and his wife, who survived him seven years, remained Friends 
all their lives, their only sons John and Lambert both distin- 
guished themselves in the military service of the Revolution. 
The elder. Gen. John Cadwalader, was elected a Trustee on 
his father's death. Both these sons were " entered" by him in 
the Academy and College in 1751 at its opening. 



1 62 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XX. 

The Trustees lost no time in looking for a supply to the 
vacancy caused by Mr. Martin's death. Twenty-one of their 
number were present at the meeting on 1 1 December, 175 1 
including the new Trustee Dr. Cadvvalader, "to consider of 
some Person to supply " Mr. Martin's place 

in the Latin School, and it being said that Mr. AlUson, a gentleman of good 
Learning in Chester County had lately expressed some Inclination to be 
employed in that School, Mr. Francis was desired to write to him, to know 
whether he was yet so inclined, and upon what Terms he would undertake 
the charge thereof. 

At a Meeting held on 28 December it was reported by Mr. 
Allen 

that Mr. Francis Alison had been in Town, and that himself, and some 
others of the Trustees have had some Conversation with him, and though 
he seemed diffident of undertaking the charge of the Latin School, he had 
promised however to be in Town again by the 7th of January next, and 
attend School for a month upon Trial. 

He entered upon his duties at the time named, and ful- 
filled the promise of his reputation, and remained ; his salary at 
the March meeting being set at ^200 per annum, the same 
as his predecessor's was. His former pupil, Charles Thom- 
son, must have been the source of the Trustees' information 
regarding this celebrated teacher ; and his name being submitted 
when Dr. Cadwalader was present, the latter could speak intelli- 
gently of the man who had been tutor in the family of his sister 
Dickinson. Mr. Alison's diffidence, referred to in the Minutes, 
continued many months, and his final assumption of the Rector- 
ship cannot be determined. In his letter of 2 July, 1752 to 
Rev. Dr. Johnson, Franklin speaking of the Academy, says : 

Our Academy, which you so kindly inquire after, goes on well. 
Since Mr. Martin's death the Latin and Greek School has been under the 
care of Mr. Alison, a Dissenting minister, well skilled in those languages 
and long practiced in teaching. But he refused the Rectorship, or to have 
anything to do with the government of the other schools. So that remains 
vacant, and obliges the Trustees to more frequent visits. We have now 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 163 

several young gentlemen desirous of entering on the study of Philosophy, 
and Lectures are to be opened this week. Mr. Alison undertakes Logic 
and Ethics, making your work his text to comment and lecture upon. 
Mr. Peters and some other gentlemen undertake the other branches, till 
we shall be provided with a Rector capable of the whole, who may attend 
wholly to the instructions of youth in the higher parts of learning as they 
come out fitted from the lower schools. 

Francis Alison was born in the parish of Lac, County 
Donegal, in the year 1705. He received an excellent edu- 
cation at an academy under the particular inspection of 
the Bishop of Raphoe, and was subsequently a student for 
some years at the University of Glasgow. He came to 
America in 1735, and his first educational work was as 
tutor in the family of Samuel Dickinson of Talbot County, 
Maryland. Whether he remained there long enough to 
have any training of the young John Dickinson is doubtful. 
In 1737 he was ordained by the New Castle Presbytery, 
Delaware, and installed pastor of the New London con- 
gregation, Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he continued 
fifteen years. At this latter place he opened an Academy in 
1743. Upon this school of his creation, the Synod of Phila- 
delphia in 1744 engrafted the grammar school which they took 
measures to establish on a permanent foundation, with special 
reference to training young men for the ministry. Mr. Alison 
was made Principal, and it became a justly celebrated institu- 
tion, and served not only the purposes of the Synod in pre- 
paring well qualified ministers, but furnished the State with 
trained civilians; among these were Charles Thomson, Dr. Ewing, 
Hugh Williamson, and James Latta, and of Signers of the 
Declaration of Independence, Thomas McKean, George Read 
and James Smith. This Academy was eventually removed to 
Newark, Delaware, and became the foundation of Delaware 
College. ^ When Mr. Martin the Rector of the new Academy 
died, he was attracted to Philadelphia and was asked to take 
his place, but this caused the severance from his pastoral charge 



^ Wickersham, ill. 



164 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

and his school and in an irregular way, which however the Pres- 
bytery condoned as in a great measure excusable on account of 
the pressing circumstances in which he was placed at New 
London, it being almost impracticable for him to apply for the 
consent of the Presbytery or the Synod in the usual way. He 
ramained in the faithful charge of his duties, and under the 
charter of 1755 creating the College, he became Vice-Provost. 
It was at the meeting of 10 December, 1754, that he 
joined with William Smith, then Professor of " Logick, Rheto- 
rick, Ethicks, and Natural Philosophy " in submitting the 
thought of a College : 

It being represented by Mr. Alison and Mr. Smith that it would 
probably be a Means of advancing the Reputation of the Academy, if the 
Professors had a Power of conferring Degrees upon such Students as had 
made a suitable proficiency in Learning to merit that Distinction ; and 
that several ingenious young Men, not finding that Testimony of their 
Acquirements to be had here had left the Academy on that Account: The 
Trustees considering that such honorary Distinctions might be an Incite- 
ment to Learning, and having Reason to believe the Governor, if applied 
to, would readily grant the Power of conferring them, desired Mr. Alison 
and Mr. Smith to draw up a Clause to be added to the Charter for that 
Purpose, and lay it before the Trustees at their next meeting. 

This was done ; but the subsequent steps in securing the 
Charter of 1755 will be narrated in future pages. On 13 April, 
1756, a minute records he was 

appointed Professor of the higher classics. Logic, Metaphysicks and Geogra- 
phy, and that he teach any of the other Arts and Sciences that he may judge 
himself qualified to teach, as the circumstances of the Philosophy Schools 
may require ; but if it so happen that Mr. Smith can spare time from his 
Employment in the other Branches of Literature to teach any of these 
Branches, then and in that case Mr. Alison shall employ the overplus of 
his Time as usual in the Grammar School in the Capacity of Chief Master. 

Besides his duties at the Academy, he continued his cleri- 
cal work as assistant minister of the First Presbyterian Church, 
Philadelphia. Yale College in 1755, two years after Franklin 
had received his degree, and Princeton in 1756 conferred upon 
him the degree of Master of Arts, and in 1758 the University 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 165 

"of Glasgow made him Doctor of Divinity, Dr. Sprague says, 
" so highly was this latter honour then appreciated, that the 
Synod to which Mr. Alison belonged, made a formal acknowl- 
edgment of it to the University." In 1765 his former congre- 
gation at New London, who had remained without a Pastor 
since he left them, asked him to return and resume his labors 
among them ; but this he declined. He was then three score 
years of age, and preferred ending his life in the performance of 
his present engagements. He died 28 November, 1779, two 
months after the hostile Legislature had abrogated the charter 
of his College and Academy. Had his energies and life been 
spared, his influential connection with the Institution would 
have disarmed the political enemies of the institution of much 
of the force of their attack, and indeed might have stayed the 
thought of abrogation until calmer and juster thoughts would 
have found their sway. 

It was in 1755 that Dr. Alison made a journey to New 
England, John Bartram being his fellow traveler. Franklin had 
written i September, 1755, a letter^ introducing them to his 
friend Jared Eliot : 

I wrote to you yesterday, and now I write again. You will say, // 
can' t rain, but it pours ; for I not only send you manuscript, but living 
letters. Theyi7r;«^rmay be short, but the latter will be longer and yet 
more agreeable. Mr. Bartram I believe you will find to be at least twenty 
folio pages, large paper well filled, on the subjects of botany, fossils, hus- 
bandry, and the first creation. This Mr. Alison is as many or more on 
agriculture, philosophy, your own Catholic divinity, and various other 
points of learning equally useful and engaging. Read them both. It 
will take you at least a week; and then answer, by sending me two of the 
like kind, or by coming yourself. 

The testimonies of two of his pupils show him to have 
been a remarkable man in natural powers and trained gifts, and 
his influence in the College and Academy was greatly felt in its 
development, and in the faculty he was second only to William 
Smith in learning and force. The University owes very much 
in its early nurture to its second Rector, the faithful and diligent 

^Bigelow, ii. 413. 



i66 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Presbyterian divine, Francis Alison. Dr. Ewing, in his funeral 
sermon, says of him : 

Blessed with a clear understanding and an extensive liberal educa- 
tion, thirsting for knowledge, and indefatigable in study, through the 
whole of his useful life, he acquired an unusual fund of learning and knowl- 
edge, which rendered his conversation remarkably instructive, and abun- 
dantly qualified him for the sacred work of the ministry, and the faithful 
instruction of youth in the College. * * * All who knew him acknowl- 
edge that he was frank, open and ingenuous in his natural temper ; warm 
and zealous in his friendships ; catholic and enlarged in his sentiments ; a 
friend to civil and religious liberty ; * * * he has left behind him a 
lasting testimony of the extensive benevolence of his heart in planning, 
erecting and nursing, with constant attention and tenderness, the charitable 
scheme of the widows' fund, by which many helpless orphans and destitute 
widows have been seasonably relieved and supported, and will, we trust, 
continue to be relieved and supported, so long as the Synod of New York 
and Philadelphia shall exist. 

Bishop White, in briefer phrase, gives a picture of his old 
professor : 

Dr. Alison was a man of unquestionable ability in his department, of 
real and rational piety, of a liberal mind ; — his failing was a proneness to 
anger ; but it was forgotten, — for he was placable and affable.^ 

In his journey to New England in 1755, he visited Pro- 
fessor Stiles at Newport, who says of him : 

He is the greatest classical Scholar in America, especially in Greek — 
not great in Mathematics, Philosophy and Astronomy, but in Ethics, His- 
tory and general reading, is a great literary character. 

Provost Smith in his account of the College and Academy 
in the Ai/ierican Magazine for October, 1758, says he 

has long been employed in the education of youth in this province, and 
many of those who now make a considerable figure in it have been bred 
under him. He was one of the first persons in this country, who, foresee- 
ing the ignorance into which it was like to fall, set up a regular school of 
education in it ; and so sensible were that learned and respectable body, 
the University of Glasgow, of his pious and faithful labour for the propa- 
gation of useful knowledge in these untutored parts, that they lately hon- 
ored him with the degree of Doctor of Divinity sent him without any 
solicitation on his part, and even without his knowledge. 

^Memoirs, 1 8. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 167 

XXI. 

The young tutors Barton and Duche have been already 
named. No minute appears recording the appointment of 
Thomas Barton, though by the Treasurer's accounts he was on 
duty and received a salary of ;^50 per annum as early as 
November, 1752, and the Trustees voted him 17 November, 
1753, an augmentation of ;^io. Jacob Duche's nomination 
was due to the order of the Trustees, 13 February, 1753, "the 
number of Scholars in the Latin School being greatly increased, 
it is resolved that another Usher be provided with all convenient 
speed," and on 17 November, 1753, he was granted a salary of 
^40 per annum, the Treasurer's accounts showing he had been 
then six months on duty. This young man, but just fifteen 
years of age, continued, but without formal appointment, 
eighteen months in this work, as Mr. Coleman's entries charge 
him with no payments after August, 1754. It interfered with 
his duties as a scholar preparing for a degree, which he obtained 
with honor at the first commencement in 1757. His talents 
secured his election as Professor of Oratory in December, 1759, 
and he was further honored by the election as a trustee in 
February, 1761, in the room of William Masters who had died 
in the November previous. Some account of his ecclesiastical, 
political, and literary life may be found in place when we con- 
sider him as a Trustee. 

Thomas Barton, born in Ireland in 1730, of English 
parentage, was a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, and when 
about twenty years of age came to this country and opened a 
school in Norriton township, Montgomery County, Pennsyl- 
vania, in the neighborhood of the Rittenhouse family. The 
following year he accepted the tutorship in the Academy, and 
he here continued until 1754, when at a meeting of the Trustees 
on the 13th August " having by letter directed to them signified 
his Design of leaving the School and going into Orders ; they 
consented to his Dismission in a Month or two, agreeable to his 
Request." He was ordained by the Bishop of London, 29 



1 68 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

January, 1755, and returning to Philadelphia in the following 
April, he shortly entered on his duties as Missionary in Hunt- 
ingdon County, Pennsylvania, from whence he ministered at 
York, and Carlisle and Shippensburg, His interest in the 
Indians was warmly aroused, but the defeat of Braddock marred 
his plans for usefulness among them. He became Chaplain to 
General Forbes in his expedition of 1758. For nearly twenty 
years he was Rector of St. James Church, Lancaster, Pennsyl- 
vania ; his life was full of untiring activities in the frontier settle- 
ments. In the Revolution he felt that his oath of allegiance as a 
minister bound him to England, and he parted with all his 
interests in Pennsylvania, and arrived within the British lines in 
New York in 1778. He died 25 May, 1780, and was interred 
in the chancel of St. George's Church, New York. He preached 
a notable sermon on Braddock's Defeat, which with an intro- 
ductory letter by Provost Smith received a very extended cir- 
culation, entitled Unanimity mid Publick Spirit. He had sought 
Mr. Smith's judgment upon it and asked his views 
on the office and duty of Protestant ministers, and the right of exercising 
their pulpit liberty in the handling and treating of civil as well as religious 
affairs, and more especially in times of public danger and calamity.^ 

This embodied a reference to the Friends then in power in 
the Assembly who were opposed to all warfare defensive as well 
as offensive. And the Provost enclosing a copy of this produc- 
tion to the Archbishop of Canterbury, informs him 

upon the general consternation that followed General Braddock's Defeat, 
I wrote to the Missionaries on the Frontiers as far as I knew them, exhort- 
ing them to make a noble Stand for liberty, and vindicating the office and 
Duties of a Protestant Ministry against all the Objections of the Quakers 
and other Spiritualists who are against all clergy.* 

As we use the latter word to-day, such association would 
not be sought by the former now. It may well be granted, 
however, that the Friends were consistent, and that had the 
whole community been permeated with the just principles of 
which they claimed to be the exponent, there would have existed 



1 Mr. Smith's letter is given at full in his Life and Correspondence, i, lio-l 18. 
^ Life and Correspondence, i. 1 1 9. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 169 

no hostility or treachery among the Indians, and the frontiers 
would have had the defence of righteousness. John Penn, the 
Proprietary, said of Barton : 

Nor has he done anything in the miUtary way but what hath increased 
his character for piety, and that of a sincerely rehgious man and zealous 
minister. In short he is a most worthy, active and serviceable Pastor and 
Missionary. 

Mr. Barton married in 1753 a sister of David Rittenhouse. 
The College and Academy conferred on him in 1760 the degree 
of Master of Arts, and the same was .conferred by Kings College 
in 1770, His son Benjamin Smith Barton was in 1789 elected 
Professor of Natural History and Botany in the College, and in 
1 8 13 from that was made Professor of Materia Medica in the 
University. And his grandson William P. C. Barton was chosen 
Professor of Botany, in 18 16, succeeding his uncle, whose death 
occurred in 181 5. 

In his son's Memoirs of David Rittenhouse it is said that 
his death 

put a period to the sincere and intimate friendship between that gentleman 
and Mr Rittenhouse, which had subsisted almost thirty years. This friend- 
ship, which may be said to have commenced almost in the youth of both 
parties, continued without interruption until the year 1776 ; when the 
declaration of American independence produced, unhappily, some abate- 
ment of it on each side ; at least, so far as related to that great political 
measure, respecting which they entertained different opinions. For, 
although Mr, Barton was, in truth, warmly attached to the principles of the 
English Whigs ; and had, on various occasions, manifested his zeal for the 
liberties of the American people and rights of the colonists ; his opinions 
were conscientiously opposed, and only these, to the expediency of that 
measure. Yet, it is believed, that the personal friendship of these intimate 
relatives was far from having ever subsided ; the ties that early united them, 
were of the strongest kind ; that union was of long continuance ; and they 
were mutually sensible of each other's worth and talents.^ 

The loyal obituary notice of him which appeared in the 
Royal Gazette, 31 May, 1780, is worthy of record here : 

On Thursday the 25th inst. departed this life aged 50 years, the Rev- 
erend Thomas Barton, A. M., the Society's Missionary for Lancaster, in 
the Province of Pennsylvania. This worthy Clergyman was distinguished 

^Memoirs of Rittenhouse, by William Barton, M.A., p. 287. 



I/O History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

by a generous openness of temper, and liberality of sentiments, which 
joined to an exemplary conduct, and indefatigable zeal in discharging the 
duties of his function, gained him the love and esteem of his acquaintance!; 
especially of his parishioners, who greatly respected him during his resi- 
dence among them for 21 years. His unshaken loyalty and attachment to 
the Constitution, drew upon him the resentment of the rebels, and exposed 
him to many hardships. The violence of the times compelled him at last 
to leave his numerous family, and take refuge in this city ; where he bore a 
tedious and most painful sickness with fortitude and resignation ; he died 
in firm expectation of that immortality and glory which are the exalted 
privileges of sincere Christians. On Friday last his remains were interred 
in the Chancel of St. George's Chapel. 

His wife had died 18 June, 1774 and was buried at Lan- 
caster.* 



XXII. 

The vacancy occasioned by Mr. Dove's retirement, which 
was made necessary by his insistence on continuing his private 
school, was filled by the appointment of Ebenezer Kinnersley, 
at the meeting of 10 July, 1753. The story is best told in the 
Minutes : 

Mr. Peters inform' d the Trustees, That in Pursuance of their Resolu- 
tion of providing a new Master for the English School, Mr. Franklin had 
sometime since wrote to Mr. Ebenezer Kinnersly, then in the West Indies 
to know if that Place would be agreeable to him, and that Mr. Kinnersly 
was now come over and had signified his Willingness to accept thereof, if 
the Trustees approve of him. The Trustees present, having express' d their 
approbation of Mr. Kinnersly, thought proper to send for Mr. Dove and 
acquaint him that they had provided a new Master for the said School 
pursuant to their Intention signified to him some Months ago ; who, 
thereupon, declared he would attend the School no longer. Mr. Kinnersly 



* Alden, American Epitafhs, ii, 206. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 171 

being then sent for, accepted the charge of the said School for one Year, 
his salary to be one Hundred and Fifty pounds per annum. 

On 17 November following Mr. Kinnersley informed the 
Trustees "that there are no more than Fortyone scholars 
belonging to the English school," and they thought it unneces- 
sary to keep two Ushers and Mr. Carroll, and 

Mr. Franklin was therefore desired to acquaint him that the Trustees have 
no further occasion for his services, but that they will nevertheless continue 
him in Pay for Three Months after the expiration of the current Quarter, 
unless he shall sooner get into some other employment. 

Mr. Kinnersley so commended himself to the Trustees in 
his labors, that at a large meeting of the Trustees held on 1 1 
July, 1755, with Franklin presiding, he was "unanimously 
chosen Professor of the English Tongue and of oratory." It 
was a month before his appointment as Master of the English 
School, that we find one of those fugitive notes in the local 
press which testify to the Trustees' recognition of the importance 
of keeping the attention of the community alive to the subject 
of education as exemplified by the rule of the Academy. " On 
Wednesday the 30th past, the Reverend Mr. Cradock, from 
Maryland, preached in the Academy Hall, a most excellent 
Sermon on the Advantages of Learning." ^ This may have had 
a deeper meaning than the mere notice of the sermon would 
convey. May it not have been that Franklin thought he would 
find in this trained scholar and successful teacher the man to 
take the place, which he had hoped at the outset of the Academy 
would be filled by the learned Samuel Johnson of Stratford, 



^Pennsylvania Gazette, 7 June, 1753. The Rev. Thomas Cradock, incum- 
bent of St. Thomas' Parish, Baltimore County, the older brother of John Cradock, 
who in 1772 became Archbishop of Dublin, was a very learned man, and in the 
Maryland Gazette ^ May 1747 had advertised to take young gentlemen in his family and 
teach them the Latin and Greek languages, which he did for many years, his school 
being patronized from the near southern counties of that Province. It is related of 
his son Thomas that under his tuition the lad at the age of twelve was able to repeat 
entire pages of Homer in the Greek. Rev. Ethan Allen in Sprague's Annals, p. ill. 
Tn 1753 he published a version of the Psalms, translated from the Hebrew original 
into uniform heroic verse. Miss H. W. Ridgely's Old Brick Churches of Marylattd, 
p. 122. It is not mentioned by Allibone. Mr. Cradock died 7 May, 1770, aged 51 
years. 



172 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Connecticut, who became the head in 1754 of the New King's 
College, New York? There was no meeting of the Trustees 
in June 1753 for lack of a quorum; and the conjecture relating 
to Mr. Cradock in this connection has only the warrant of 
Franklin's special notice of his Academy Sermon on a Week 
Day, which he deemed important enough to apprise his 
readers of 

Ebenezer Kinnersley's name is so interwoven with the work 
of the first score of years of the Academy and College, that we 
naturally desire to know somewhat of the man who made for him- 
self this distinction. He was born, the son of William Kinnersley 
a Baptist Minister, in Gloucester, England, 30 November, 17 11. 
His father immigrated to America in 1 7 14, and settled in Lower 
Dublin, near Philadelphia, where he officiated as minister to the 
Pennypack Baptist Church. He died in 1734; and the son after- 
wards united with the Pennypack Church, and on his marriage 
in 1739 removed to Philadelphia. His talents as a public 
speaker were soon manifest, and his desire was to enter the min- 
istry but his health not being robust he was not ordained until 
1743. He had in one of his lay sermons denounced Whitefield's 
teachings and so incurred the enmity of most of his co-religion- 
ists who were entranced by that wonderful preacher, that he 
was for a season under excommunication by his brethren, and 
for some time he attended Christ Church ; but a reconciliation 
took place in 1746 when the Philadelphia Baptist Church was 
organized, of which he became one of the constituent members, 
and with this he remained in communion the remainder of his 
hfe. 

It was in the year 1746 that in the indulgence of his well 
formed scientific tastes he became deeply interested in the inves- 
tigation of electricity and its subtle and wonderful powers, and 
became closely associated with Franklin in his experiments and 
with others like minded. His pursuit of it was so engrossing as to 
overtax his health and he sought convalescence in Bermuda, 
whither he resorted at subsequent times for a like purpose ; 
and it was while here that Franklin corresponded with him in the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 173 

Spring of 1753 about taking charge of the Enghsh School, 
which resulted in his connection with the Academy. His powers 
as a speaker made successful the Lectures on Electricity which 
he undertook, and which brought his name more prominently 
before the different communities in which he exhibited his 
interesting experiments, than other congenial friends who had 
not the like need to turn their accomplishments to useful pur- 
poses. Franklin gave him a letter of introduction, 5 Sep- 
tember, 175 1, to James Bowdoin when he is about visiting 
Boston : ^ 

As you are curious in electricity, I take the freedom of introducing 
to you, my friend Mr. Kinnersley, who visits Boston with a complete appa- 
ratus for experimental lectures on that subject. He has given great satis- 
faction to all that have heard him here, and I believe you will be pleased 
with his performance. He is quite a stranger in Boston ; and as you will 
find him a sensible worthy man, I hope he will be favored with your coun- 
tenance, and the encouragement which that must procure him among your 
friends. 

In writing to Cadwallader Colden on 14 September, 1752, 
Franklin says ^ : "I am sorry you could not see Mr. Kinnersley 's 
Lectures ; they would have pleased you." Kinnersley's cor- 
respondence with Franklin was continued over many years, his 
last letter to Franklin which we have being written him to Lon- 
don 13 October, 1770; extracts from it have been given in the 
sketch of Franklin's life on a previous page, and all display 
the ardor of a learned enthusiast who in communicating his 
observations and experiments to an older friend appears to seek 
his concurrence if not approval in their results, who in turn 
responds with like eagerness to his friend whether from the 
quiet of his home or amid his pubHc duties while abroad. 

In 1757, Mr. Kinnersley received the degree of M.A. from 
his College, and in 1758 became a member of the American 
Philosophical Society. We shall see traces of his steps through 
his College duties, until his three score of years with a feeble 
constitution induced him to lay down his professorship, and he 



'Sparks, v. 257. Bigelow, ii. 243. ^ Sparks, vi. 123. 



1/4 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

resigned it ly October, 1772. The Minutes of the Trustees, 15 
October, record that 

Dr Redman and Dr Peters reported that Mr Kinnersley had desired 
them to inform the Board that on the 17th inst, he designed to resign his 
office and Professorship in this Institution, the present state of his health 
requiring that he should make a Voyage to a warmer climate during the 
approaching Winter ; and that he hoped the Trustees would give him a 
proper Certificate of his good Behaviour during the last nineteen years in 
which he has been employed in their Service, and that they will allow Mrs 
Kinnersley to occupy the House in which he now lives, till next Spring, 
which was at once granted. 

He passed the following winter in Barbadoes, thus again seeking 
strength under the restfulness of a tropical climate. On his 
return, he made his home in the country among the scenes of 
his early youth, and there died 4 July, 1778, and was buried at 
the Lower Dublin Baptist Church. It was as a graceful tribute to 
his memory that some of the Alumni and others erected a Win- 
dow Memorial to Ebenezer Kinnersley* in College Hall ; it is on 
the Eastern stairway, and all who pass and repass under its 
tinted light must be reminded of the faithful professor who found 
time to contribute to his fellow men some better knowledge of 
Electricity, and who thus supplemented the discoveries of the 
great Founder of the institution to which the latter had called 
him to be a professor. 

Graydon in his Memoirs describes his tuition in grammar 
and recitation under Mr. Kinnersley, and speaks of him as " an 
Anabaptist clergyman, a large, venerable looking man, of no 
great general erudition, though a considerable proficient in elec- 
tricity." Provost Smith's notice of him in the American Magazine 
for October, 1758, where he noticed Alison and Grew, already 
referred to, will be quoted later in a more fitting connection 
than here. 

An opportunity presented itself shortly after Mr. Kinners- 
ley's appointment, to securing a teacher for modern languages; 
on 16 December, 
the Trustees being inform' d that Mr. Creamer a gent' n from Germany is 



*" In Memoriam Rev. E. Kinnersley, A.M., Orat. et Litt. Angl. Prof. 1753- 
1772 " is the legend on the window. It was erected in 1S72. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 175 

very capable of teaching the French and German Languages, and that he 
is now out of employment, Mr. Peters, Mr. Franklin and Dr. Bond are 
desired to enquire more particularly into his qualifications and to treat with 
him concerning his teaching those Languages in the Academy. 

On 8 January, 1754, 

Dr. Thomas Bond reports that pursuant to the Request of the Trustees at 
their last Meeting Mr. Franklin and himself had made some Enquiry 
concerning Mr. Creamer and had been informed he was qualified for 
Teaching the French, Italian and German Languages, and besides was 
well skill' d in Musick and some Kinds of Painting. That they had also 
desired to know of him upon what Terms he would undertake to teach 
these Things, or such of them as the Trustees should require, in the 
Academy. That in Answer to this he proposed to give attendance four 
Hours in a Day for a Salary of Sixty Pounds per annum, provided he 
might have Liberty of using the School Room to teach in at other Times, 
in Case any Scholars, not of the Academy, offer' d. The Trustees con- 
sidering that some Inconveniences might attend this Matter, chose rather 
to make him an offer of ^100. per annum for his attendance all the School 
Hours, or Time equivalent, if other Hours should be found to suit them 
better; Wherewith Dr. Thomas Bond is desired to acquaint him. 

But this arrangement proved irksome to the Trustees, it 
seems, for a minute of 1 1 July, 1755, impUes they desired a 
severance of these relations. 

A letter from Mr. Creamer to the Trustees was read, requesting to be 
continued Teacher of the French Tongue till April next. But the Trustees 
being of Opinion his being longer employ' d in the Academy was unneces- 
sary, agreed he should be paid up to this Time, and to give him a quarters 
salary over. 

The interests of the Charity School kept pace in the 
thoughts of the Trustees with that of the Academy. At the 
meeting of 17 November, 1753, 

Mr. Franklin and Dr. Shippen are desired to treat with one Mrs. Hol- 
well (who for some Time past has kept a school, and is said to be well 
qualified for that Business) to know upon what Terms she would undertake 
the charge of thirty Girls to teach them Reading, Sewing and Knitting. 

At the next meeting, these Trustees reported an engage- 
ment with Mrs. Holwell, 

for which she is to be paid Thirty pounds per annum; and that at present 
she teaches in one of the upper Rooms in the Academy, till a more con- 
venient place shall be provided. 



1/6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

On 13 August, 1754, it was 
ordered, That the Treasurer pay to Frances H dwell, Mistress of the 
Charity School, the Sum of Three Pounds, to be laid out in Books, Canvas, 
Cruels, and other Things necessary in the Instruction of the poor Children 
under her care. 

What we of to-day term Fancy Work, the Trustees of old 
thought a necessary tuition to poor children ; and the remem- 
brance of ancient samplers is revived, the handiwork of the 
girls of the last century, which was fostered by the Fathers of 
our University. On 8 April, 1755, Mrs. Holwell was allowed 
" Fifteen pounds a year for an assistant, she taking charge of 
Fifty Girls, if the Trustees think fit to send so many." 



XXIIL 

The progress of the good work so carefully guided by the 
Trustees opened up further thoughts of the future uses of the 
Academy, and at the meeting of 10 April, 1753, when the 
approval of a Charter for the vigorous Academy was announced, 
it " was represented to the Trustees that the ground between 
the Academy Lot and Arch street might probably now be 
obtained on a reasonable Ground Rent, it was unanimously 
agreed to request Mr. Alison (who had been treating with the 
owners concerning it) to secure the same at the Rate of 4.6 pr 
Foot." The matter was at once closed, and certain two lots 
were secured, reaching from the Western moiety of their lot to 
Arch Street^ giving them a frontage on that street of 126 feet ; 
and at the same time and by the same conveyance they pur- 
chased the lot at the corner of Arch and Fourth streets, 36 feet 
on the latter by 54 feet deep, and upon this latter was eventually 
erected the Provost's house. There remained three adjoining 



^ Title was taken from Dr. Alison 14 July, 1753, who had purchased on 16 
April previously from Jonathan Price. See Deed Book H, No. 7, p. 449, &c. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 177 

lots between this latter and the remainder, 40 feet on Fourth Street 
by 18 feet on Arch Street which were purchased by Mr Dove 
about the same time. Probably seeing the desire of the Trustees 
to possess these to square out their premises, Mr Dove may have 
secured them on a venture, for if he did not prove himself a 
Dove in teaching, as we shall see, he may have lacked his titular 
innocence in a trade. However this may be, negotiations were 
opened in about twelve years for their sale to the Trustees, and 
after a dozen years further patience they secured them for 
^^850, which was reported at a special meeting on 22 November, 
1766.^ The purchase of 1753 was not too much for their 
expected wants. Buildings would be erected, and ample play 
ground reserved for the pupils, and dormitories were wanted 
for the incoming of the country lad who desired a better edu- 
cation than he could find near his distant town ; though the 
Charter, now forthcoming, gave them no higher title than the one 
they had begun and flourished on : The Academy and Charita- 
ble School in the Province of Pennsylvania. 

A Charter had early been in their thoughts, for the firmer 
management of their affairs and the proper holding of real estate, 
to say nothing of the political influence accruing to their efforts 
to have their work thus officially sealed to them by the powers 
that be. And at the meeting of 9 June, 1752, " Mr. Francis is 
desired to make a Draught of a charter for incorporating the 
Trustees of the Academy in order to be sent over to the Pro- 
prietor for his approbation." Through the influential offices of 
Dr. Peters, Secretary to the Proprietors, whose active interest 
in the Academy seemed to be second only to that of Franklin, 
the application to be chartered was well furthered. But the 
delays of ocean travel, and the formal solemnities of such a trans- 
action, took many months to overcome ; and only at the meet- 
ing of 10 April, 1753, 

Mr. Peters acquainted the Trustees, that the Proprietors approved the 
Draft of a Charter which had been laid before them, and had sent over 
Directions for passing the same under the great seal. That they had like- 



2 The two Fourth Street Lots he had taken from the same Price title i8 April, 
1753. The Trustees' title from him is Recorded in Deed Book I, No. 6, p. 663, &c. 



1/8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

wise sent an Order on their Receiver General for the Payment of Five 
Hundred Pounds to the Trustees of the Academy as soon as the Charter 
should be executed ; and the said Order was accordingly deliver' d to the 
President. 

And it was then 

Resolved, That an Address of Thanks be made to the Proprietors for 
this great Favour and noble Benefaction ; and Mr. Allen, Mr. Francis and 
Mr. Franklin are desired to prepare a Draft of the same, to be laid before 
the Trustees at their next meeting. 

At the meeting of 13 July, seventeen Trustees^ being pres- 
ent, though the President was absent from the city on his tour 
to the Eastward on his post office duties, 

Mr. Peters informed the Trustees that the Governor was now at his House, 
ready to pass the Charter, which had been fairly engrossed for that Purpose ; 
Whereupon the Trustees in a Body waited on the Governor, who accord- 
ingly signed the same with a Warrant for affixing the Provincial Seal thereto, 
and delivered it to the Trustees, expressing his good wishes to their Under- 
taking and that the charter now granted them might contribute to its 
Success. Mr. Francis then, in Behalf of the Trustees, returned the Gov- 
ernor their most hearty Thanks, and assured him they would likewise 
dutifully address the Proprietors in Acknowledgment of so great a Favour, 
and of their late noble Benefaction to the Academy. Mr. Francis was then 
desired to get the great seal affixed thereto pursuant to the Governor's War- 
rant, and cause it to be recorded in the Rolls office in Philadelphia. 

Thus was chartered The Trustees of the Academy and 
Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania. 

The gratification in receiving a Charter extended beyond 
the Trustees to the Pupils, and these were afforded an early 
opportunity to make declamations on the pleasing topic. Orig- 
inal papers by Francis Hopkinson, Josiah Martin, John Morris, 
and William Masters (who did not graduate), are preserved 
among the Penn Papers in the possession of the Pennsylvania 
Historical Society. These were cared for by the thoughtful 
Peters and forwarded to the Proprietaries as evidences of the 
proficiency attained in the Academy, which they had now clothed 



* Messrs. Lawrence, Francis, Turner, Willing, Plumsted, Maddox, White, 
Cadwalader, Syng, Thos. Bond, Leech, Phineas Bond, Shippen, Strettell, Inglis, 
Peters, and Coleman. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 179 

with a Charter. And in his handwriting we find the endorse- 
ment on one of them : 

Some declamations made by the Latin Boys in the Academy on the 
Proprietaries kind grant of a charter, Not intended for View being only 
written as Rough Drafts to help their Memories at the time of delivery. 
Neither masters nor any other person that we know of gave any assistance. 

Hopkinson in a firm manly hand, though but sixteen years 
of age, writes ; 

'Tis Learning which like an able Artist polishes the Diamond and 
Discovers its Lustre and latent Beauties. 'Tis Learning which makes a 
Man happy in himself and a blessing to his Country. 'Tis Learning 
which prepares us for Heaven and Perfection and makes a Mortal almost 
equal to the Angels themselves. * * * Alas, how unhappy are they 
who have not had the advantages of a liberal Education, surely Life must 
be a burden to them and Time hang heavy on their Hands ; but this shall 
never be said of Philadelphia while such generous, such publick spirited 
Gentlemen bear any sway in it. 

John Morris, a graduate of 1759, who could not have been 
over fourteen years of age, with a vigorous and clear pen writes : 

Our present Honourable Proprietaries, copying after the Example of 
such a noble Father, will no doubt, advance every good, every useful 
Design among us. How much are we indebted to them, for their generous 
Benefaction, how much for granting a Charter, which establishes this 
Academy upon a sure and lasting Foundation ? A Charter confirmed to us 
by a Governor, who has thought us worthy of his Notice and Protection 
amid the cares that attend his exalted Station ; a Governor born among us, 
our Friend and our Countryman, and a Governor distinguished for his 
peaceable administration and an inviolable Regard for the Laws and 
Rights of Mankind. How much is it for our Honour that our President 
has been so successful in his searches into the most hidden secrets of Nature 
and is in as much esteem at London and Paris as in Philadelphia. With 
such examples as these before our Eyes, and under your care, and inspec- 
tion of such worthy gentlemen, what advantages may we not hope for ? 



i8o History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XXIV. 

Franklin's summer in 1753 was a busy one; 

Having been for some time employed [he writes] ^ by the postmaster- 
general of America, as his comptroller in regulating several offices, and 
bringing the officers to account, I was upon his death, in 1753, appointed 
jointly with Mr. William Hunter, to succeed him, by a commission from 
the Postmaster-general in England. The American office never had 
hitherto paid anything to that of Britain. We were to have six hun- 
dred pounds a year between us, if we could make that sum out of the 
profits of the office. * * * The business of the postoffice occasioned 
my taking a journey this year to New England, where the College of Cam- 
bridge, of their own motion, presented me with the degree of Master of 
Arts. Yale College in Connecticut had before made me a similar compli- 
ment. Thus, without studying in any College, I came to partake of their 
honours. They were conferred in consideration of my improvements and 
discoveries in the electric branch of natural philosophy. 

In writing to Cadwallader Colden on 25 October, 1753, he 
says : ^ 

This last summer I have enjoyed very little of the pleasure of reading 
or writing. I made a long journey to the eastward, which consumed ten 
weeks ; and two journeys to our western frontiers ; one of them, to meet 
and hold a treaty with the Ohio Indians, in company with Mr. Peters and 
Mr. Norris. 

In writing his friend Mr. Hugh Roberts on 16 July, from 
Boston, he says : 

My respects to all our old friends of the Junto, Hospital and Insur- 
ance. ^ 

These references call here for some notice of two other 
of the notable enterprises of the time in which Franklin's leader- 
ship was sought. The Pennsylvania Hospital had begun its 
first ministrations to the suffering in February, 1752, in the 
house of Judge Kinsey, on Market Street near Sixth, on the 



^ Bigelow, i. 241. ^ Bigelow, i. 357. 

'Sparks, vii. 77. Writing to the same from London 27 February, 1766, he 
adds, "remember me affectionately to the Junto, and to all inquiring friends." 
Bigelow, iii. 456. Sparks, vii. 308. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. i8i 

site of which a few years afterwards Mrs. Masters erected her 
Mansion, elsewhere referred to, which was the precursor of the 
Washington residence. From its inception, at the close of 1750., 
Franklin had been its guide. His friend Dr. Thomas Bond 
originated the movement, and while these two were busy in 
arranging for the beginning of the Academy to train the mind 
of youth, they found time to plan an institution to provide means 
for healing the suffering bodies of the aged and the injured, or 
as Franklin expressively styles it, " for the relief of the Sick 
and Miserable ; " and on 7 February, 175 i, a bill was passed 
the Provincial Assembly incorporating " The Contributors to 
the Pennsylvania Hospital." Franklin had written up the mat- 
ter in the Gazette, and employed other active means to interest 
the community in the project. And at the first meeting of the 
Contributors held at the State House, a board of managers was 
chosen, of which Benjamin Franklin was made President. Of 
the managers, twelve in number, Franklin, Bond, and Peters, 
were trustees of the Academy ; and another Manager was Hon. 
John Smith, who in a twelvemonth became the originator of an 
institution for effecting insurances on buildings, in the further- 
ance of which he secured the like co-operation from Franklin 
that Thomas Bond had for his Hospital. Funds came in, and 
pending the selection of a permanent location, Judge Kinsey's 
house was rented, rules and regulatipns for its management 
were adopted, and Lloyd Zachary, Thomas and Phineas Bond, 
Thomas Cadwalader, Samuel Preston Moore, and John Redman 
were appointed the first surgeons and physicians, who offered 
to attend the patients gratuitously for three years. In Decem- 
ber, 1754, the managers secured a block of ground, distant from 
the outskirts of the built-up portions of the city, being the entire 
square south of Spruce Street and west of Eighth Street. * Pro- 
vision was at once made for a building, and the corner stone of 
what we know as the East Wing was laid 28 May, 1755, with 

* The Managers purchased for the erection of their Buildings the plot of 
ground known as Society Square on 15 November, 1754, on Pine Street between 
Eighth and Ninth Sts., and to this was subsequently added the balance (about one- 
fourth) of the block extending north to Spruce Street of the same width by gift of 
Thomas and Richard Penn under patent of lo November, 1767. Dr. Morton's 
History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, 1895, p. 270. 



1 82 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Franklin's well known inscription on it, which will bear repe- 
tition here : 

In the year of Christ 

MDCCLV 

George the Second happily Reigning 

(for he sought the happiness of his people) 

Philadelphia Flourishing 

(for its inhabitants were public spirited) 

This Building 

By the Bounty of the Government 

And of many private persons 

Was piously founded 

For the Relief of the Sick and Miserable, 

May the God of Mercies 

Bless the undertaking 

The Hospital and the University have the same parentage, 
and their kinship is recognised to this day, for the Medical 
Department of the latter has always found its chief school in 
the means furnished by the former for the development of medi- 
cal and surgical science, and most of its professors have earned 
their eminence on the basis of the tuition they have found in 
Hospital residence here. 

It was in April, 1752, that Franklin, with great zeal and 
interest, lent his aid to establishing the first Insurance Company 
on the Continent, The Philadelphia Contributionship for the 
Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, of which the Hon. 
John Smith was the first policy holder and the first Treasurer; 
an institution whose vigor and security to day make its policies 
the first on the list of all those granting indemnity for the Hos- 
pital and the University buildings in case of their loss by fire. 

With such a citizen as Benjamin Franklin, though he was 
not native to the soil, can we wonder at the people of Philadel- 
phia, under such inspiration and leadership, establishing so 
many institutions of value whose age to day proves the strength 
of their foundations ; it could not be otherwise that Philadelphia 
was flourishing, " for its inhabitants were public spirited." 
Rarely has it fallen to the lot of any citizen known to history to 
have behind him so many works of value and beneficence as we 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 183 

find bearing the impress of Benjamin Franklin's brain and hand. 
To trace, therefore, the Hfe of any one of them, it seems unavoid- 
able in our progress to pass on without taking some account of 
the others, for in thus doing we can more fully estimate his 
catholicity and his wisdom. 

He was next present at the Trustees meeting of 9 October, 
I753t but there lacking a quorum, "the Trustees visited the 
Enghsh School but did no other business." It was between 
this date and that of his letter to Cadwallader Golden, of 25 
October, above quoted from, that he journeyed to Carlisle as 
one of the deputies from the Provincial Assembly to meet the 
Western Indians, where a treaty was concluded. It is on this 
occasion that the narrative of his diplomacy to prevent the Indians 
becoming drunk before the Treaty was concluded has place, ^ 

he strictly forbade the selling any liquor to them : and, when they com- 
plained of this restriction, he told them, that if they would continue sober 
during the treaty, he would give them plenty of rum when business was 
over. 

The results were twofold, a successful treaty, but a following 
night of drunken orgies. For this the older Indians in their 
soberness the next day apologised, but laid it upon the rum, 
which they said was one of the good things of the Great Spirit, 
who when he made it, said, " Let this be for the Indians to get 
drunk with," and added "it must be so." In Franklin's time 
his observation was that "rum had already annihilated all the 
tribes who formerly inhabited the sea coast." 

The entry of October, 1753, above quoted is one of many 
testifying to the personal attention of the Trustees to the work 
of their Professors and Tutors, namely, 

14 January, 1752. The Trustees visited the Schools, but did 

no other Business. 
II August, 1752. The Trustees visited the Latin School, but 

did no other Business. 

8 May, 1753. The Trustees visited the English School but 

did no other Business. 

9 October, 1753. The Trustees visited the English School but 

did no other Business. 
^ Bigelow, i. 229. 



184 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

13 November, 1753. The Trustees visited the Latin School 

but did no other Business, 
9 April, 1754. The Trustees visited the "Writing Mathematical 
and Charity Schools, but did no other Business. 

14 May, 1754. The Trustees visited the EngHsh School but 

did no other Business. 
II June 1754. The Trustees visited the Latin School but did 
no other Business. 

9 July 1754. The Trustees visited the French School but did 

no other Business. 

10 September, 1754. The Trustees visited the Latin School 

but did no other Business. 



XXV. 

To the names- of Grew, Alison, Kinnersley, and Creamer, 
Thomson, Jackson, Duche, and Barton, who at this point of time 
composed the faculty and tutors of the Academy, and not forget- 
ting those whose connection with it had ceased by death or resig- 
nation, Martin and Dove, the two Jones', Peisley and Carroll ; we 
are led next in order to name, which though first appearing in 
the Minutes of 25 May, 1754, had been in the thoughts and on 
the tongues of the Trustees for a twelvemonth, William Smith, 
who happily formed a connection with it which he made the best 
and most enduring work of his life, which redounded to the 
advantage and credit of the Academy and College through his 
years of work in its behalf, and the remembrance and repute of 
which must remain to the latest era of its existence. The Trus- 
tees had now found, they believed, the man of mind and nerve 
and training to take the headship of the Academy. Though 
Dr. Johnson had denied them, and had assumed but a few 
weeks before this the Presidency of King's College, yet it was 
to his kindly interest as well as to his lasting credit that the sug- 
gestion of the name of this young Scotch tutor, who was then in 
the line of his duty on Long Island, may be traced. If the parent 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 185 

of the University could not make Johnson its President or Pro- 
vost, it was a fitting gift on the part of the parent of Columbia 
College to point the way for the first Provost of the University. 

William Smith, the son of Thomas Smith, the great grand- 
son of Sir William Smith, who died in 163 1, was born within a 
few miles of the city of Aberdeen, 7 September, 1727, and was 
baptised in the "Old Aberdeenshire Kirk," 19 October. His 
Mother was Elizabeth the daughter of Alexander Duncan, of 
the Camperdown family, whose wife was a daughter of Sir Peter 
Murray of Auchtintyre. Young Smith entered the parish 
school at seven years of age where he remained a year, when he 
was taken charge of by the Society for the Education of Paro- 
chial Schoolmasters from whose care he passed to the Univer- 
sity of Aberdeen in 1741, where he resided some time but did 
not remain for graduation as there appears no record of this in 
the annals of either of the Colleges.^ His biographer places him 
next in London, in 1750, as Commissioner for the Established 
or Parochial Schoolmasters in Scotland, addressing a " Memorial 
on their behalf to the great men in Parliament ; " and in the same 
year he published an Essay on Liberty.^ 



^ Life of Rev. William Smith, D.D., by his great-grandson, Horace Wemyss 
Smith, Philada, 1880, i, 20. The biographer states he graduated in 1747, but his 
degree of 1759 of Sacrosantse Theologise Doctorem et Magistrem from the Univer- 
sity of Aberdeen makes no reference to this earher degree, i, 202. The official 
record of the Doctorate is as follows: "Kings College 7th March, 1759, Con- 
vened the Principal and Masters. The said day the University unanimously agreed 
to conferr the degree of Doctor of Divinity upon the Reverend Mr. "William Smith 
Provost of the College of Philadelphia. Jo'. Chalmers, Prin'H." j/iVf letters of 27 
May, 1887, and 3 February, 1888, from P. J. Anderson. LL.B., Librarian of the 
University of Aberdeen. Had Mr. Smith been an alumnus, the fact would have 
been here noticed. Mr. Anderson writes in the latter, " The absence of the title 
' M. A.' is I think conclusive as to Mr. Smith's not possessing the degree." 

^ *' The whole of the year 1750 he passed in London and I have every reason 
to believe that during that time he acted as clerk for the Honorable Society for the 
Propagation of the Gospel." ibid i, 20. We form some idea of the man and his early 
record from Archbishop Sherlock's letter testimonial of him to Thomas Penn, dated 
19 September, 1753: 

Sir — The bearer of this Mr. William Smith is desirous of being known and 
recommended to you and I make no difficulty of taking the liberty of complying 
with his request. He came to me from Scotland about two years ago, with very 
ample Testimonials of his capacity and morals and affection to the King and our 
Constitution. Had he stayd here, I should have had my Eye upon him, but a good 
opportunity offering he went off as Tutor, to some young Lad, to New York. How 
he behaved there, the enclosed Letters will inform you very fully, and at the same 



1 86 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

During this period he was tutoring in London, and later 
entered the family of Josiah Martin, Esquire, the second son of 
Samuel Martin of Green Castle, as tutor to his two sons. With 
this family he came to New York in the spring of 175 i, landing 
in New York i May. Mr. Martin's house known as the Her- 
mitage, at Far Rockaway, Long Island, where Smith passed the 
next two years is yet standing and in excellent order.^ Here 
Mr. Martin died in 1778; his eldest daughter married her 
cousin Josiah Martin, Governor of North Carolina in 1770, 
whose older brother Samuel was Member of Parliament for 
Camelford, Joint Secretaiy to the Treasury, and Treasurer to 
the Princess Dowager of Wales. 

While here, Mr. Smith, in his nearness to New York City 
must have been familiar with the efforts then prevailing to erect 
a College in that city, and in this connection may have been in 
communication with Dr. Johnson, but of correspondence between 
them there is none existing. 

The disputes in the Province of New York on the subject 
of a College were at their height when he arrived, and the 
questions of town or country for its location, and of its con- 
trol by Episcopacy or Presbytery, were either of them suffi- 
cient to invite the young tutor of twenty-four years of age to 
note them and soon to take a part in the fray. Being a member 
of the Martin household, his intercourse with the leading men 
of the neighborhood was assured and easy. In 1752 he wrote 

time give foundation to consider, liow proper he may be to support tlie important 
character he aims at in the conduct of the infant College at Philadelphia. I have 
great reason to think him a good man. He is a scholar and ingenious and what is of 
the highest consequence of a temper fitted as it seems to me to pursue a plan of 
Education upon the large and generous footing of aiming at the Publick Good, with 
no other Bias, or partiality but preserving his Duty to the Constitution of his Mother 
country, consistently with a warm regard to the service of the Colonies, and the uni- 
versal benefit of the various People that compose them. I think I am not mistaken 
in him, and if I am not, his Youth may recommend him and he may become a very 
faithful and useful servant in a country in whose prosperity you have so strong an 
interest. You will please to interrogate him and I believe you will be pleased with 
the good sense and ingenuousness with which he will answer to your questions. I 
have the honorto be, Sir, You obliged Humble Servant, Tho. Cantuar. 

This autograph letter is in the Penn Papers in Pennsylvania Historical Society, 
private, vol. iv. This letter may have reached Philadelphia for Smith's personal 
presentation of it to Mr. Penn, ere he sailed for England, as it is supposed, on 1 3 
October following. 

' And is the property of James A. Hewlett, Esq., of New York. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 187 

Some Thoughts on Education : with Reasons for Erecting a College 
in this Province, and fixing the same at the City of New York : 
to which is added a Scheme for employing Masters or Teachers 
in the mean Time, and also for raising and endowing an Edifice 
in an easy Manner, and over the name of Philomathes dedi- 
cated them to Chief Justice De Lancey. " Being advised that, 
perhaps, it might be of public Use, to print the fohowing 
Papers, which were intended originally to be laid before the 
House of Representatives only in Manuscript ; I must beg 
Leave to put them under your Protection, to which the Subject 
naturally recommends them"; and they were printed by J. 
Parker in the autumn of 1752. The whole concluded with A 
Poem, Being a serious Address to the House of Representatives. 
In tone it rises above the ordinary controversial pamphlet, 
though it is full of the author's didactic statements submitted 
with his customary force ; there is no ambiguity as to his mean- 
ing. He opens : 

If we look into the Story of the most renowned States and King- 
doms, that have subsisted in the different ages of the World, we will find 
that they were indebted * for their Rise, Grandeur and Happiness, to the 
early Provision made by their first Founders, for the public Instruction of 
Youth. The great Sages and Legislators of antiquity, were so sensible of 
this, that they always made it their prime care to plant Seminaries, and 
regulate the Method of Education ; and many of them even designed, in 
Person, to be the immediate Superintendants of the Manners of Youth, 
whom they justly reckoned the rising Hopes of their country. 

Towards the conclusion, a paragraph embraces a reference 
to the efforts in Philadelphia of a like nature : 

I shall only add that Oxford, Leyden, &c., are too complex and 
large to be any Model for us : the neighbouring Colleges of New England, 
Pennsylvania, &c., may be kept chiefly in our Eye ; but tho' the People 
of these Provinces have the Honor to set us an Example in this truly 
noble Work, we have the Advantage of seeing where they have been 
deficient, and of being sensible that Something might be contrived more 
commodious than any of their Schemes. 

* In preparing the Thoughts iox the edition of his Works published in 1S03, 
Smith qualified this by making it read "they were greatly indebted," &c. The 
Tiiou^iiis were designed by him as a part of liis Third volume, but ihe published 
Works only reached two Volumes ; hence the pamphlet did not reach the second 
edition. 



1 88 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

These Thoughts brought the author into controversial 
prominence, and Philomathes was made the object of the resent- 
ment of those whose schemes may have been thwarted by his 
careful reasonings. Franklin in his letter to Smith of 3 May, 
1753, which we shall shortly reach, affords us a clue to this when 
he expresses regret at Smith's expressions of resentment against 
his adversaries in his Mirania, where towards the close he says : 

As for those Writers who dehghtto give frequent Specimens of their 
Knack at Wranghng and Chicane ; or, who are determined to think 
Nothing right in this Affair, but what comes from themselves, my Time is 
too precious to follow them thro' the Maze of Perplexity. They may, if 
they please, ascribe every Thing I have done to a Selfish Motive ; I shall 
leave it to Time and the Issue of the Thing to convince them how much 
they have injured me. It will then be sufficient Punishment for them to 
reflect on their Usage of One who never offended them, but by a Zeal for 
the Happiness of that Province, which they ought to love more, than 
one, who is a Stranger in it. There was no other way I could manifest that 
Zeal but on the Subject of Education, as all the Time I have lived in the 
World has been Spent on my own Education and that of others. * * * 
Sorry should I be, however, if, after all my Partiality in treating this 
Matter, I should fall under the Displeasure of any Sect or Party, who may 
claim an exclusive Right of modeling this Institution to their Mind. ^ 

A few months after the publication of his Thoughts, he pro- 
ceeded to draw up in detail, and publish over his signature, his 
plan of a College, entitled 

A General Idea of the College of Mirania, * * * Addressed more 
immediately to the consideration of the Trustees nominated by the Legisla- 
ture, to receive Proposals, &c. relating to the Establishment of a College 
in New York ; 

wherein under the guise of an allegory he sketched out this plan. 
He says : 

While I was ruminating on the constitutions of the several colleges 
which I had either personally visited or read of without being able to fix on 
any Thing I durst recommend as a model worthy our Imitation, I chanced 
to fall into the Company of a valuable young gentleman, named Evander, 
who is a person of some distinction, of the province of Mirania. After 
some conversation on learned topics, he was led to give me an account of 
a seminary established about twelve years ago in that province in which I 

* Mirania, p. 79. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 189 

thought I perceived all that seems excellent in the ancient and modern 
Institutions reduced to the greatest Method and Simplicity. This I have 
presumed to propose to your consideration ; which as it may be further 
improved by you, and other learned Men among us, seems extremely well 
adapted to the circumstances of this Province of New York, as we are now 
entirely such as the Miranians were when they founded their College, with 
Regard to Riches, Trade, and the Number of People, e * * * Evander 
tells him about twelve years ago, the Miranians saw themselves a mighty 
and flourishing people, in possession af an extensive country, capable of 
producing all the necessaries and many of the superfluities of life. They 
reflected that the only method of making these natural advantages of last- 
ing use to themselves and posterity, the only infallible source of tranquillity, 
happiness and glory, was to contrive and execute a proper scheme for form- 
ing a succession of sober, virtuous, industrious citizens, and checking the 
course of growing luxury. They were sensible, that tho' a Combination of 
lucky circumstances, almost wholly independent on them, had raised them 
so high, they should be wanting to themselves if they depended longer on 
blind chance for any Thing which was now in their Power to command. 
They were convinced that, without a previous good Education, the best 
Laws are little better than Verba minantia, and considered as such, will be 
duped and broke thro' with Impunity by illustrious Villains ; that the 
Magistrate can at best but fight vice into a corner, and that 'tis Education 
alone can mend and rectify the Heart ; that no Government can subsist 
long on Violence and brute Force, and that Nature follows easily when 
treated rationally, but will not bear to be led, or driven . 

They saw also, that among the foreigners, who were as numerous as 
the English, many distinctions were forming upon their different customs, 
languages, and extractions, which, by creating separate interests, might, in 
the issue, prove fatal to the government. They wisely judged, therefore, 
that nothing could so much contribute to make such a mixture of people 
coalesce and unite in one common interest, as the common education of 
all the youth at the same public schools under the eye of the civil au- 
thority * * * With these views the Miranians applied themselves 
to project a plan of education ; every person of genius, learning, and expe- 
rience, offering his impartial thoughts on this subject, whether they were in 
a private or public capacity ; as being sensible that an understanding of 
such lasting consequences demanded the united councils, the heads and 
hearts, of a whole country * * * With regard to learning, the Mira-- 
nians divide the whole body of people into two grand classes. The first 
consists of those designed for the learned professions ; by which they 
understand divinity, law, physic, agriculture, and the chief officers of the 
State. The second class of those designed for mechanic professions, and 

^ Mirania, p. 8. 



190 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

all the remaining people of the country. Such a division is absolutely 
necessary ; for, if the shortest way of forming youth to act in their proper 
spheres, as good men and good citizens, ought always to be the object of 
education, these two classes should be educated on a very different plan. 
* * * These considerations gave rise to what is called the Mechanics' 
School in this Seminary. It might, however, as well have been called a 
distinct college ; for it is no way connected with what is called the College 
(by way of Distinction) than by being under the Inspection of the same 
Trustees, and the Government of the same Head, whom they call Provost 
or Principal. Most of the Branches of Science, taught in the College, are 
taught in this School ; but then they are taught without languages, and in 
a more compendious manner, as the circumstances and Business of the 
Mechanic require. This school is so much like the English School in 
Philadelphia first sketched out by the verj' ingenious and worthy Mr. 
Franklin, that a particular Account of it here is needless . '' 

This reference to the Philadelphia Academy implies the 
author's familiarity with that scheme; and some of the phrases 
of Evander's narrative echo the ideas more tersely expressed 
by Franklin in his Proposals and other early papers on the 
Academy. — Evander proceeds to describe the schools, and their 
classes in detail, and speaks of " the principal whose name is 
Aratus," who instructed the fifth or highest class in the study 
of agriculture and history. 

* * * Forgive me, my friend [proceeded Evander], if in this 
part of my narrative, I should be tedious, or discover any unbecoming rap- 
tures. The time spent in these studies was the happiest period of my 
life, and which I have often wished I could begin again, a period I can 
never reflect upon, without feeling my bosom burn, and thinking I hear 
the good Aratus, with hands outstretched, and eyes glowing affection and 
devotion, pouring important Truths from his fervent Tongue, and leading 
us unperceptibly from the visible to the unvisible things of God. * 

It was but natural that Mr. Smith should send copies of 
his piece to some of those interested in a work in Philadel- 
phia, akin to the efforts now making in New York, and on 
April 1 1 he wrote to Franklin enclosing a copy of his 



'' Mirania, pp. 9, 10, 14, 15. 

^ Mirania, p. 45. Dr. Smith prepared a second edition of this very entertain- 
ing and instructive Essay for his Discourses of 1762, "corrected" by him, but the 
corrections and abbreviations detract somewhat from the interest and style and the 
freshness of the edition of 1753. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 191 

publication upon the ideal College of Mirania, and made 
inquiry about placing his pupils, the young Martins, in 
the Philadelphia Academy, pending a proposed visit home 
which he appeared to be contemplating for the purpose among 
others of applying for Orders in the Church of England. We 
are not told aught of Mr. Smith's change of ecclesiastical 
views, for that he was brought up in the Presbyterian Kirk a 
faithful adherent to ,the Westminster Confession we cannot 
doubt. It may be that a two years residence on Long Island, 
where Yale's influence predominated, led him to a knowledge 
of the painful separation Johnson and Cutler and Brown had 
made from Presbyterianism thirty years before, and with designs 
of the ministry early in mind, he now acquiesced in the claims 
of Episcopacy and turned his face to England to seek Orders, 
though many months elapsed before this consummation. His 
letter we have not ; but Franklin's letter is preserved, both the 
original draft and the letter, the latter omitting a paragraph of 
the former which bore more immediately upon the entertainment 
and instruction the Martins would find in Philadelphia. Mr. 
Smith's letter had evidently conveyed the impression that he 
proposed settling in England on his return. Franklin's letter 
is inserted here as originally drafted, the paragraph withheld 
being marked in brackets. Mr. Sparks gives the letter as drafted ; 
Mr. Smith's Biographer with the original letter in hand calls 
attention to the omission^ 

Philadelphia 19 April 1753 ^" 
Sir. I received your favor of the nth instant, with your new piece 
on Education which I shall carefully peruse and give you my sentiments 
of it, as you desire, by next post. 

[I believe the young gentlemen, your pupils, may be entertained 
and instructed here, in mathematics and philosophy to satisfaction. Mr. 
Alison, who was educated at Glasgow, has been long accustomed to teach 
the latter, and Mr. Grew the former, and I think their pupils make great 
progress. Mr. Alison has the care of the Latin and Greek School ; but, 
as he has now three good assistants, he can very well afford some hours 
every day for the instruction of those, who are engaged in higher studies. 
The mathematical school is pretty well furnished with instruments. The 



9 Smith, i. 23. 1" Bigelow, ii. 288. Sparks, vii. 63. 



192 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

English Library is a good one, and we have belonging to it a middling appa- 
ratus for experimental philosophy, and purpose speedily to complete it. 
The Loganian Library, one of the best collections in America, will shortly 
be opened ; so that neither books nor instruments will be wanting ; and, 
as we are determined always to give good salaries, we have reason to 
believe we may have always an opportunity of choosing good masters ; 
upon which, indeed, the success of the whole depends. We are obliged 
to you for your kind offer in this respect ; and, when you are settled in 
England, we may occasionally make use of your friendship and judg- 
ment.] 

If it suits your conveniency " to visit Philadelphia before your 
return to Europe, I shall be extremely glad to see and converse with you 
here, as well as to correspond with you after your settlement in England. 
For an acquaintance and communication with men of learning, virtue and 
public spirit, is one of my greatest enjoyments. 

I do not know whether you ever happened to see the first proposals 
I made for erecting this Academy. I send them enclosed. They had, 
however imperfect, the desired success, being followed by a subscription 
of four thousand poimds towards carrying them into execution. And, as 
we are fond of receiving advice, and are daily improving by experience, I 
am in hopes, we shall, in a few years, see a perfect institution. I am, 
very respectfully, &c B. Franklin. 

In a fortnight Franklin took up his pen to write Smith 
further on his College of Mirania. In this case as the letter is 
longer than the draft, we quote it entire from Smith's Life and 
Corfespondence, merely noting at foot the verbal changes and 
the point of addition. ^^ 

Philadelphia 3 May 1753 
Sir : Mr. Peters ^* has just now been with me, and we have com- 
pared notes on your new piece. We find nothing in the scheme of educa- 
tion, however excellent, but what is in our opinion very practicable. The 
great difficulty will be, to find the Aratus, and other suitable persons in 
New York, to carry ^* it into execution ; but such may be had if proper 
encouragement be given. We have both received great pleasure in the 
perusal of it. For my part, I know not when I have read a piece that has 
more affected me ; so noble and just are the sentiments, so warm and 



^1 The letter reads : " if it suits you to visit Philadelphia." ^^ Smith, i. 23. 

13 In a letter of this date Richard Peters writes to Thomas Penn, "I desire 
your acceptance of a Book on Education sent me by the Author, Mr. William Smith, 
Tutor to Col. Martin's children on Long Island, an acquaintance of the Archbishop of 
Canterbury." 

" [n Neio York not in draft. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 193 

animated the language ; yet, as censure from your friends may be of more 
use, as well as more agreeable to you, than praise, I ought to mention, that 
I wish you had omitted, not only the quotation from the Review, which 
you are now justly dissatisfied with, but all those ^^ expressions of resent- 
ment against your adversaries, in pages 65 and 79. In such cases the 
noblest victory is obtained by neglect, and by shining on. ^^ 

Mr. Allen has been out of town these ten days ; but before he went, 
he directed me to procure him six of your " pieces, though he had not and 
has not yet seen "it. ^® Mr. Peters has taken ten. He proposed ^^ to have 
written: to you, but omits it, as he expects so soon to have the pleasure of 
seeing you here. He desires me to present his affectionate regards to you, 
and to assure you that you will be very welcome to him. I shall only say 
to you that you may depend upon my doing all in my power to make your 
visit to Philadelphia agreeable to you. ^^ Yet, me thinks I would not have 
you omit bringing a line or two from Mr. Allen. If you are more noticed 
here on account of his recommendation, yet as that recommendation will 
be founded upon your merit, known best where you have so long resided, 
their notice may be esteemed to be as much ' ' on the score of something 
yoti,'''can call your own,'" as if it were merely on account of the pieces you 



15 All not in draft. 

18 In a letter from the Bishop of Oxford to Dr. Johnson, 19 March, 1754 
when Mr. Smith was in London awaiting his ordination, the Bishop says, "if he had 
pursued his intention of residing awhile at Oxford, I should 'have hoped for more of 
his company and acquaintance. Nor would he, I think, have failed to see more 
fully, what I flatter myself he is convinced of without it, that our Universities do not 
deserve the sentence which is passed upon them by the author whom he cites, and 
whose words he adopts in page 84 of his ' General Idea of the College of Mirania.' 
He assures me they are effaced in almost all the copies. I wish they had not been 
printed, or that the leaf had been cancelled. But the many valuable things which 
there is in that performance, and in the papers which he published at New York, will 
atone for this blemish with all candid persons." Beardsley's Johnson, '78. The 
Bishop's reference is to the following : " They know little what our English Univer- 
sities are at present : For, to use the words of the authors of the Review, for 
November, 1750: 'That even both our Universities (not forgetting that in the 
Metropolis of a neighboring Kingdom) are rendered of little use to the Public, or to 
the Welfare of Religion, by the idle Doctrines and corrupt Manners which prevail in 
them, is a Truth equally notorious and melancholy; and any effectual scheme for a 
thoro' Reformation or (if this is impossible, thro' the Perverseness of their Members) 
a total abolition of them would merit the attention of every Lover of his Country, 
every Well wisher to true Christianity, and to civil and religious Liberty.' " Mii'ania^ 
p. 84. On Smith's copy of the Mirania, he adds on the margin opposite these lines 
■' This quotation was raz'd out of most of the copies before they got abroad, the 
author considering them injuriously applied." But for Franklin's reference to the 
author's personal allusion on pages 65 and "jc^oi Mirania, we should not now know that 
they were " expressions of resentment against his adversaries;" thus early in his 
American career had his active zeal in devising new things been intensified by his 
warm temperament and a youthful proneness to disputation. 

1'' Six copies of your piece in draft. 

18 This last phrase not in draft. 1^ Purposed in draft. 

^0 This ends the draft. The letter proceeds. 



194 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

have written. I shall take care to forward your letter to Mr. Miller by a 
vessel that sails next week. I proposed to have sent one of the books to 
Mr. Cave, but as it may possibly be a disappointment to Mr. Miller if 
Cave should print it, I shall forbear, and only send two or three to some 
particular friends. I thank you for your information concerning the author 
of the dialogues. I had been misinformed ; but saw with concern in the 
public papers last year, an article of news relating that one Mr. Fordyce, ^^ 
the ingenious author of Dialogues on Education, perished by shipwreck on 
the coast of Holland, on returning home from his tour to Italy. The 
sermon on the "Eloquence of the Pulpit" is ascribed in the Review oi 
August, 1752, to Mr. James Fordyce, Minister at Brechin. I am, with 
great esteem. Sir, your most humble servant B. Franklin. 

By the first of June, Smith was in Philadelphia with his 
young pupils whom he placed at the Academy. His satisfac- 
tion on this occasion in witnessing the fruits of the faithful 
work of the Trustees and Masters found expression in 

A Poem on visiting the Academy of Philadelphia, June, 1753, [of 
two hundred and seventy lines, bearing on the title page Virgil's lines as 
the legend :] 

Inventus qui Vitam excoluere per Artes ; 

Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo ; 

Omnibus bis nivea cinguntur Tempora Vitia. 

His letter of Dedication bears date 5 June, and addresses 
the Trustees : 

Gentlemen. Having receiv'd the intensest Satisfaction in visiting 
your Academy, and examining some of its higher Classes, I cou' d not be 
easy 'till I had testify' d that Satisfaction in the most public Manner. The 
undeserv'd Notice many of you were pleas' d to take of Me during my Short 
Stay in your City, and the Honor the Academy (when I first went into it) 
did me in making one of the Youth Speak a Copy of Verses, which I lately 
wrote to promote the Interest of Science in a neighboring Province, might 
claim my most grateful Acknowledgments. But what I now offer is a 
Tribute paid to Merit of a more public Nature. A few private Gentlemen 
of this City have, in the Space of two or three Years, projected, begun, and 
carried to surprizing Perfection, a very noble Itistitution ; and an Institu- 
tion of that Kind too, which, in other Countries, has scarce made such a 



^1 David Fordyce lost at sea, 1751, brother of James. As natives of Aber- 
deen, these brothers may have been personally known to William Smith ; hence the 
present reference. Both received their education at the University of Aberdeen, and 
David was appointed Professor of Moral Philosophy in Marischall College in 1742, the 
year subsequently to William Smith's matriculating at Kings College. Allibone. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 195 

Figure in the Space of some Centuries, tho' founded by Kings, and sup- 
ported at the pubhc Expence. 

Prosecute, Gentlemen, yet a little longer prosecute your generous 
Plan, with the same Spirit ; and your own Reputation, with that of your 
Acadeiny, shall be establish' d, in Spite of every Obstacle, on a Bottom 
immortal, and never to be Shaken. A Succession of good Men and good 
Citizens shall never be wanting in Pennsylvania to do Honor to your Mem- 
ories, and diffuse Spirit and Happiness thro' their Country. The Virtues 
to be chiefly inculcated in your Youth in order to obtain this End, you know 
better than I. They are however modestly hinted, in the following Poem, 
from a Mouth that cannot fail to give them new Importance. * -x- * * 
That the Success of your Undertaking may still exceed even your own 
most sanguine Hopes, is my earnest Prayer, as it is my firm Persuasion 
that such a fair Beginning cannot fail of the most lasting good Conse- 
quences, * * * 

The Poem may merit the quotation from it of a few hnes : 

Heavens ! how my Heart beat Rapture, to behold 

The little Heroes, decent, graceful, bold. 

The Rostrum mount, with British Ardor warm' d. 

And, by the sacred Soul of Glory charm' d. 

With Hands out-stretch' d, rowl, tingling, from their Tongue, 

Sage Truths of Justice, Freedom, Right, and Wrong, 

In numerous Periods, sweeter than my Song. 

O how the Sires glow' d round, and fed their Eyes 

Fix' d on their darling Sons in sweet surprize ; 

O how the Sons were smit with conscious Fires, 

In the animating Presence of their Sires I 

Even GOD Himself exults in such a Sight ; 

And Angels hang applausive, in Mid-flight. 

While those bright Souls releas' d from earthly care. 

To whom th' Affairs of Kindred-men are dear. 

Look down triumphant on the lovely Scene ; 

And for a While Suspend their heavenly Strain. 

In reference to the efforts now also made in the city of 
New York for a hke institution he at the close gives these lines : 

O were the Joy compleat ! — But one sad Thought 
Depresses half the Raptures of my Note ! 
For can I celebrate such wisdom here, 
O much lov'd York, nor drop a duteous Tear ? 



196 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Rise, nobly rise ! dispute the Prize with Those ; 

As AtJiens, rivaling Lacedsemon, rose ! 

The illustrious sisters, keen alike to seize 

The Palm of Empire, and the Reins of Greece, 

Each rous' d by Each, fed high the glorious Fire ; 

Flam'd, bustled, shone — and had the World admire ! 

O Strife far nobler, who shall most excel. 

In Knowledge, Arts oi Peace, and Living well ! 

This nobler Strife, ye nobler ^^ Sisters feed ! 

Be yours the Contest in each worthy Deed ; 

Shine Godlike Rivals for the Muses' Palm ; 

And strive who first shall sway the Laitreat-realm. 

The author closes with a tender farewell to his pupils, 
whom in a foot note he describes as 

the three eldest Sons of the Honorable y(7j-/rt;// Martin, Esq, \&\.t oi Antigua ; 
They were plac'd at the Academy of Philadelphia at the Time this Piece 
was written : 

Yet ere we close, O Muse, one Labor more 

Indulge where I have labor' d oft before. 

Dear Pupils, let the Lessons here imprest. 

Sink intimate and deep into your Breast. 

Now climb the Steep to Science in your Yotith, 

The Votaries of Wisdom, and of Truth. 

Your zeal let none within these walls excel ; 

Strive for Esteem, for Glory, and . . . farewell ! 

This interesting and now rare quarto of sixteen pages was 
printed by Franklin and Hall, and is announced in the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette of 7 June, "Next week will be Published." The 
College of Mirania is advertised in the Gazette of the following 
week "just published in New York, and to be sold by D. Hall." 
And it was during this brief visit to Philadelphia, and in his 
conferences with the Trustees, that William Smith's interest in 
the young institution led him to compile his Prayers for the Use 
of the Philadelphia Academy, a little tract of twenty pages, which 
was also printed by Franklin and Hall in the same year. This 
includes "A Morning Prayer, to be used by every Scholar in 



The Cities of Meiu York and Philadelphia. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 197 

his chamber at rising from Bed," and "An Evening Prayer to 
be used by every Scholar in his chamber at going to Bed," 
besides " Publick Prayer," for both Morning and Evening in the 
chapel, each consisting of Sentences, Exhortations, and Prayers ; 
and in addition, embracing The Ten Commandments, The 
Apostles' Creed, and the Duty to God and towards my Neigh- 
bour, from the Church of England Catechism. An Evening 
Prayer is the following : 

Be favourable to all Seminaries of sound Learning and virtuous 
Education ; vouchsafe to shower down thy peculiar Blessings on all those 
who are in the Trust, Direction and Management of this Academy, upon 
the Institution itself, and iipon all those who are in any ways concerned in 
or related to it. Help them to put it upon the best Foundation, and to 
form from Time to Time such Orders and Regulations in it as will best 
promote thy Glory, and the Establishment of solid and useful Learning. ^^ 

Thus the first visit of William Smith to Philadelphia created 
and secured impressions which left no room for other wish than 
that he might be induced to make the city his home, and 
the evidence presented him as to the stable foundation of the 
Academy and its bright promises of future usefulness and repu- 
tation left no doubt that he would accept a connection with it. 
Nothing official appears to have passed, neither records nor cor- 
respondence affording us any information on this. His visit to 
Philadelphia was brief, as he says in his dedication of the Poem, 
*' The Performance is far inferior to the Subject ; but an Apology 
will not mend it. As I have no time to improve it during my 
Stay in America," &c., thus he may have at once sailed for 
home, and this explains why he left his young pupils in Phila- 
delphia at this time. He could have made but a brief visit to 
Scotland, for we find him again in New York by October ; and 
his biographer tells us he sailed thence again on 13 October, 



2^ The University recently came into the possession of one of the two only 
copies of these Prayers known to us of these days. The publication is not referred 
to by Dr. Smith's Biographer, and was also unknown to Mr. Hildeburn when print- 
ing, in 1885, his Issues of the Pennsylvania Press, 1685-1784. Could the seed of this 
have been Bishop Ken's Mmiual of Prayers for the use of the Scholars of Win- 
chester College ? A copy of the edition of 1700 of this little formulary was in the 
Library of the late Professor Henry Reed. 



198 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

1753,2^ landing in London on i December. Franklin now 
writes him : 

Philadelphia, 27 November 1753. 

Dear Sir : Having written to you fully, ^^ via Bristol, I have now little 
to add. Matters relating to the Academy remain in statu quo. The trus- 
tees would be glad to see a Rector established there, but they dread entering 
into new Engagements till they are got out of debt ; and I have not yet got 
them wholly to my Opinion, that a good Professor or Teacher of the higher 
Branches of Learning, would draw so many Scholars as to pay great Part, 
if not the whole of his Salary. Thus, unless the Proprietors [of the 
provinces] shall think fit to put the finishing Hand to our Institution, it 
must, I fear, wait some few years longer before it can arrive at that State 
of Perfection, which to me it seems now capable of ; and all the Pleasure I 
promised myself in seeing you settled among us, vanishes into smoke. 

But good Mr Collinson writes me Word that no Endeavors of his 
shall be wanting ; and he hopes, with the Archbishop' s Assistance, to be 
able to prevail with our Proprietors. I pray God grant them success. My 
son presents his affectionate regards, with 

Dear Sir, yours, etc B. Franklin. 

P. S. I have not been favored with a line from you since you arrived 
in England. ^^ 

Mr Smith at once communicated with the church authori- 
ties and sending the Archbishop of Canterbury a copy of his 
Mira7iia, received from him a reply on 10 December : 

I have read over your Mirania, and am pleased with the Design. It 
is a very comprehensive one, and if you cannot execute the whole you must 
go as far as you can . When you form it into a plan for public use, you 
will cut off some of those Luxuriances which perhaps are more of amuse- 
ment than instruction. You see I am somewhat free with you. I shall be 
glad to find that the schemes for yourself are like to succeed, being confi- 
dent you will do your duty conscientiously. 



2* Smith, i. 28, 29. Dr. Franklin in his letter of 18 April, 1754, acknowl. 
edges Dr. Smith's letter of 18 October from England acquainting Franklin that he 
"had written largely" before that; and we have the Archbishop of Canterbury's 
letter of 13 September to Thomas Penn beginning, "The bearer of this, Mr. Wm. 
Smith, is desirous of being known and recommended to you, &c." His passage in 
return to America must have been a short one, especially if he had waited to present 
in person the Archbishop's letter of introduction to Thomas Penn ere he sailed ; but 
the dates of this correspondence, and the biographer's record are not reconcilable. 

^^ This letter is not in existence. 

2^ Smith, i. 28; Bigelow, ii. 335. The draft of this letter in possession of Dr. 
T. Hewson Bache, on the third line reads, " A majority of the trustees I find would 
be glad." Sec, &c. The postscript is not in Bigelow or Sparks, but is in the draft, as 
here given. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 199 

Meanwhile, he lost no time in seeking his entrance into the 
ministry; and on 21 December, in Fulham Palace, he was 
ordained Deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln, and on the 23d was 
ordained Priest by the Bishop of Carlisle, each acting for the 
aged and infirm Sherlock, Bishop of London, who was present 
at the services. There were ordained with him Samuel Seabury, 
William Skerrington, Francis Hoyland, and James Pasteur. 
Seabury was two years his junior; brought up in boyhood at 
Hempstead, Long Island, a graduate of Yale, he ministered 
as a layman on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the 
Gospel in Foreign Parts at Huntington, Long Island, up to July, 
1752, when he crossed the ocean to pursue his studies at Edin- 
burgh University ; he must have formed Smith's acquaintance 
shortly after the latter reached Long Island in Mr Martin's 
family, for Smith was of too active a temperament to remain 
unknown to any man of education within his reach, and it may 
be that from Samuel Seabury he derived some of those ideas of 
Episcopacy which helped him to a determination in his ecclesi- 
astical career. They returned to America about the same time ; ^^ 
but we have no knowledge of their again meeting until 1789 
when assembled in Philadelphia the Council of the American 
Episcopal Church, in which sat Samuel Seabury and Smith's 
early college pupil William White, and where Smith's instru- 
mentalities for concord and union among all sections proved so 
potent to the strengthening of the church. 

Three days after his ordination Rev. William Smith started 
North to see his father, and on the last day of the year, he 
records in his Diary " preached in the Kirk in which I was bap- 
tized." Before his return to America he engaged the interest 
of the Propagation Society in the matter of education of the 
German emigrants in Pennsylvania, in which he felt much con- 
cern which was increased on his return to Pennsylvania, when 
he actively participated in a local movement there for that pur- 



^^Mr. Smith arrived in Philadelphia on his return on 22 May, 1754, and Mr. 
Seabury reached his mission at Hempstead, Long Island, on 25 May; it is possible 
both were fellow passengers on the Falcon. In 1789 on Bishop Seabury's visit to 
Philadelphia he was the guest of Dr. Smith, then a resident of the South East corner 
of Chestnut and Fifth Streets. 



200 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

pose; it was a matter not only of religious bearing but of political, 
as it was then feared that the ignorance of the German emigrants 
in regard to our language and laws made them easy prey to the 
designs of French emissaries who sought all means to weaken 
British interests in the Middle Colonies. He formed some 
design of remaining at Oxford for further study. Dr. Seeker, 
then Bishop of Oxford, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, 
in a letter of 19 March to Dr. Johnson already quoted thanked 
him " for his favors by Mr. Smith. He is, indeed, a very inge- 
nious and able, and seems a very well-disposed young man, 
and if he had pursued his intention of residing awhile at 
Oxford, I should have hoped for more of his company and 
acquaintance." 

Franklin again writes him, apparently uncertain of his 
plans and intentions, which were doubtless unformed at the 
time, and which accounts for the infrequency of his letters to 
Philadelphia, but the letter did not reach him as he had already 
sailed from England : ^^ 

Philadelphia April 18 1754. 

Dear Sir : I have had but one letter from you since your arrival in 
England, which was but a short one, via Boston, dated Oct. 18 [?] 
acquainting me that you had written largely by Captain Davis. — Davis 
was lost and with him your letters, to my great disappointment. Mesnard 
and Gibbon have since arrived here, and I hear nothing from you. My 
comfort is, in imagination that you only omit writing because you are 
coming, and propose to tell me everything viva voce. So not knowing 
whether this letter will reach you, and hoping either to see or hear from 
you by the Myriilla, Capt. Budden's ship, which is daily expected, I only 
add, that I am, with great esteem and^affection. Yours etc B. Franklin. 

On 22 May, Mr. Smith landed in Philadelphia, from the 
Falcon^ having sailed from London 5 April. His biographer 
tells us, " during the voyage he wrote several essays on educa- 
tion, which were afterwards published in the Antigua Gazetted ^^ 
He was now at the threshold of his life's best work, and with 



^'^ Smith, i. 44. This letter is not found in either Sparks or Bigelow, nor refer- 
ence thereto. There is an error in the date of the letter named, for Mr. Smith was 
then on the ocean, having sailed, it is said, on 13 October. See ante. 

29 Smith, i. 44. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 201 

his accustomed energy and vivacity lost no time in consummating 
his plans. 

Three days after his arrival, a Meeting of the Trustees was 
summoned, and there attended, as the roll in order recites, 
Messrs. Franklin, Shippen, Leech, Peters, Taylor, Inglis, Cad- 
walader, Plumsted, Tho: Bond, Francis, Allen, M'Call, Masters, 
Phin. Bond, White, Willing, Syng, and Coleman, when 

the Question being put, Whether it be necessary at this Time to provide a 
Person in the Academy to teach Logick, Rhetorick, Ethicks and Natural 
Philosophy ? it was carried in the affirmative by a great majority. 

It being proposed that Mr . William Smith, a Gentleman lately arrived 
from London should be entertain' d for sometime upon Trial, to teach the 
above mentioned Branches of Learning, in Case he will undertake it ; the 
same was agreed to, and Mr . Franklin and Mr. Peters are desired to speak 
with him about it. [No terms were then set for his remuneration ; and it 
was not until the meeting of 11 July, 1755, that this was defined:] the 
Question being put, whether the Salary of the Provost shall be Two Hun- 
dred Pounds per annum carried in the affirmative by a great Majority, 
and resolved that it shall commence from the Time of his first being 
employed in the Academy. 

This was the amount of Mr. Alison's salary from the outset, as 
it had been that of Mr. Martin, the first Rector. To this, however, 
was added an annuity to Mr. Smith of £^0 per annum from Thos. 
Penn, in compliance with a request made him in 1754 " when the 
state of the Academy made it necessary to open schools in the 
higher branches of Learning, begging his assistance to enable them 
to employ a fit Person to instruct the Youth in the Arts and 
Sciences." The addition to the Provost's salary from this 
generous source continued until 1761, when Mr. Penn's gift of 
his one-fourth part of Perkasie Manor was accepted with the 
understanding that this sum was now to be assumed by the 
Trustees. ^'^ The Treasurer's account confirms the entry in Mr. 
Smith's Diary, " 25 May, 1754 commenced teaching in the phil- 
osophy class, also ethics and rhetoric to the advanced pupils. 
I have two classes, a senior and a junior one." It was at the 
meeting previous to the action had relating to the salary, 
namely 30 June 1755 that it was " Proposed, That the Trustees 

^"Minutes 10 February, 1761. 



202 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

visit Mr. Smith's School on Thursday next, and inform them- 
selves particularly what Branches of Learning and Science he 
teaches the Students under his care, and the Proficiency they 
have made ;" the result of which was so satisfactory that they 
voted his salary at the subsequent meeting. 

Mr. Smith's Diary could not have been a cotemporary 
record, and in after times he may have made leading entries 
which will account for the entry immediately preceding the one 
just quoted ; and which in fact anticipated by ten months the 
actual appointment, viz: "24th May 1754. I was this day in- 
ducted Provost of the College and Academy of Philadelphia, 
and Professor of Natural Philosophy." ^^ But the College had 
no existence until the new charter of 1755, under which, at the 
meeting of 7 March, 1755, twenty of the Trustees attending, 
" in Pursuance of the proposed new Institution, Mr. William 
Smith was chosen Provost and Mr. Francis Alison Vice Pro- 
vost and Rector, and their names order'd to be accordingly 
inserted in the Draught of the new Charter." In a note on the 
margin of this Minute in the handwriting of Dr. Smith, added 
some years later, it appears they then were "both unanimously " 
elected. 

We soon have an insight into the workings of the Acad- 
emy as Mr. Smith found them, in his letter of 18 July following 
written to Dr. Peters then at Albany in attendance on a council 
with the Six Nations. As Smith was landing in Philadelphia 
the colonies were alive with fears of war with France, and the 
importance was felt of counteracting the influence to be wielded 
by that nation with the Indians. The fears were not groundless, 
and as many of the Trustees were on duty in public sei-vice in 
this and the following year, the Professors and Tutors had less 
of their aid and countenance than in the piping times of peace. 

Smith in a letter to Dr. Samuel Chandler, written 30 May 
says: " Messrs. Peters and Franklin are to be sent out on Monday 
next as commissioners from the province to the general treaty, 



'^ Smith, i. 45 ; being a day earlier than the meeting of the Trustees above 
quoted. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 203 

to be held with the Five Nations at Albany, in New York, on 
the 14th of next month."^^ Franklin in his autobiography 
describes the opening of this drama, and the meeting which 
he was about attending was made memorable in the annals of 
the country as giving him the occasion to present his famous 
plan of union of all the colonies. At the instant of time when 
he had finally secured William Smith to become one of the 
faculty of the Academy and to lead onwards and upwards the 
well digested aims of the institution, he was then preparing this 
famous plan of a constitutional confederation, having the 
prescience of a seer that some kind of union of English interests 
in this cis-Atlantic must be effected ere many years would elapse. 
In his Gazette of 9 May, when narrating the capture by the 
French of Capt. Trent's party at the Ohio Forks, he concluded 
with a reference to the necessity of a union of the colonies for 
"one common defence and security," and closes with the illus- 
tration by a wood cut of a snake divided into several parts with 
the legend Join or Die ; an effective picture which was often 
reproduced at the beginning of the Revolution. His auto- 
biography narrates the steps leading to this : ^^ 

In 1754, war with France being again apprehended, a congress oi 
commissioners from the different colonies was, by an order of the Lords of 
Trade, to be assembled at Albany, there to confer with the chiefs of the Six 
Nations concerning the means of defending both their country and ours. 
Governor Hamilton, having receiv'd this order, acquainted the House with 
it, requesting they would furnish proper presents for the Indians, to be 
given on this occasion ; and naming the speaker (Mr. Norris) and myself 
to join Mr. Thomas Penn and Mr. Secretary Peters as commissioners to 
act for Pennsylvania. The House approv'd the nomination, and provided 
the goods for the present, and tho' they did not much like treating out of 
the provinces ; and we met the other commissioners at Albany about the 
middle of June. In our way thither, I projected and drew a plan for the 
union of all the colonies under one government, so far as might be neces- 
sary for defense, and other important general purposes. As we pass'd 
thro' New York, I had then shown my project to Mr. James Alexander 
and Mr. Kennedy, two gentlemen of great knowledge in public affairs, 
and, being fortified by their approbation, I ventur'd to lay it before 
the Congress. It then appeared that several of the commissioners had 



^2 Smith, i. 45. 23 Bigelow, i. 242. 



204 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

form'd plans of the same kind. A previous question was first taken, 
whether a union should be established, which passed in the affirmative 
unanimously. A committee was then appointed, one member from each 
colony, to consider the several plans and report. Mine happened to be 
preferr'd, and, with a few amendments, was accordingly reported. 

Mr. Bancroft says of this statesman's plan : 

New England colonies in their infancy had given birth to a 
confederacy. William Penn, in 1697, had proposed an annual congress 
of all the provinces on the continent of America, with power to regulate 
commerce. Franklin revived the great idea, and breathed into it 
enduring life. As he descended the Hudson, the people of New York 
thronged about him to welcome him ; and he, who had first entered 
their city as a runaway apprentice, was revered as the mover of American 
Union. ^* 



XXVI. 

Instruction as well as interest calls for some attention in 
these pages to the great political movements of the day, seeing 
that the hand which was so often seen and felt in them was the 
same that was in like kind seen and felt in the local institution 
whose narrative we are pursuing ; and we can thus obtain the lights 
and shadows of its life which might otherwise remain hidden from 
our eyes. We turn now to Mr. Smith's letter to Dr. Peters, 
which is doubly entertaining as illustrating how in less than a 
two months' domicile in the colony his versatile mind had already 
formed decided views on the political questions of the day, and 
which in the present case would be acceptable to his corre- 
spondent : 

1 Philadelphia 18 July 1754. 

Dear Sir. As we have not heard from you this Post, I am at some 
loss how to direct to you, but presume this will find you at New York. I 



^* History of the United States, iv. 125. ^ Smith, i. 49. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 205 

wish your Congress with the Indians may turn out to the advantage of the 
British cause, which has received a fatal blow by the entire defeat of 
Washington, whom I cannot but accuse of Foolhardiness to have ventured 
so near a vigilant enemy without being certain of their numbers, or waiting 
for junction of some hundreds of our best Forces, who were within a few 
Days' March of him. But perhaps what is (in this case) is right ; as it 
may open the eyes of our Assembly. 

As I hope soon to see you I shall say nothing about the Academy. 
A Resolution which my worthy Friend, Col. Martin, is like to take, affects 
me much, as it must be attended with an irreparable Loss to his children, 
for which Reason and none other you may endeavour, as I have already 
done, to divert him from it ; and I doubt not his good sense will take it in 
this Light both from you and me. I know his children. They know and 
I hope love me. Now in about a twelvemonth their Education will be 
finished on the plan I have proposed. What is most useful in Logic they 
have already acquired. Moral Philosophy we have begun, and against 
the vacation in October shall have completed what we intend. Greek and 
Latin they continue to read at proper Hours, together with two Hours 
every Day at Mathematics. From October till February or March we shall 
be employ' d in reading some ancient Compositions critically, in applying 
the Rules of Rhetoric and in attempting some Imitations of these most 
finished Models in our own Language. This I take to be the true way of 
Learning Rhetoric, which I should choose to put off until after the study 
of natural Philosophy had we any apparatus ready, because in order to 
write well we should have at least a general notion of all the sciences and 
their relations one to another. This not only furnishes us with sentiments 
but perspicuity in wi'iting, as one science frequently has Light thrown upon 
it by another. In the Spring we shall spend 5 or 6 weeks in such experi- 
ments in natural Philosophy as we shall be able to exhibit. The rest of 
the Summer may be usefully spent in the Elements of civil Law, the 
reading of History and the study of the' Ends and ; Uses of Society, the 
different Forms of Government, &c &c. All this 1 hope we shall be able 
to give our higher Class a sketch of, several of whom, particularly Mr. 
Martin's sons, have capacity enough for such a course of Reading. Now, 
sir, I appeal to you whether, for the sake of one year, it would be prudent 
in Mr. Martin to change his son's Masters and Method ? Would he con- 
sult their Interest if, for that short time, he should interrupt the many 
acquaintances they are forming at our academy, which may be of use to 
them while they live, and which they cannot expect at New York, where 
there will not be for some time above 8 or 10 Boys (unless they depart 
from the odd plan they have proposed), and not one Boy can be classed 
with Mr. Martin' s sons. 

All this I say upon the supposition their Education could be com- 



2o6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

pleted as well in New York as here. But this is impossible at first. For 
Dr Johnson only pretends to teach Logic and Moral Philosophy, both 
which the Martins will have gone thro' before Dr Johnson begins, and 
should he begin them again, his Logic and Morality are very different from 
ours. There is no Matter by his scheme. No ground of Moral Obliga- 
tion. Life is a Dream. All is from the immediate Impressions of the 
Deity — Metaphysical Distinctions which us Men and surely no Boy can 
understand, I fear much will come in the place of fixing virtue on her true 
Bottom and forming the Taste of elegant writing. But further, whom have 
they at New York for Mathematics or Nat. Philosophy, which are not the 
Dr' s province ? Whom for teaching the Belles Lettres ? Where is their 
apparatus ? Where a sufficient number of Students for public school acts 
& Disputation ? Thus, then, you see if Mr Martin takes his sons from this 
place he must fix them at New York so far advanced that they cannot 
carry them one step farther, and thereby I wonder what could induce Dr 
Johnson, whose worth and Integrity I know, to strive to persuade Mr 
Martin to remove his sons from a Seminary where they have reaped great 
Benefit, & where their Education must soon be finished. To me, who 
know what they have done, what they can do and what they want to do, it 
clearly appears such a step would absolutely mar their Education and I 
doubt not it would appear so to you. I have stated the case to Col Martin, 
but could say a Thousand things more if I saw him. I beg you to speak 
to him, if you should go to Long Island on purpose. You love doing good, 
and you never can have such an opportunity of serving that Gentleman, 
who, not having a liberal education, may be easily misled on a point the 
most important of all others, Did I not see it in this light I would scorn 
to say one word on the subject. 'Tis true, I had reason to think what I 
have already done for his sons would make him glad of finishing their 
studies under one who knows and loves them ; but if their Interest were not 
at stake, his Design of removing them would only so far affect my pride as to 
make me resent the usage with Silent Contempt. I would never wish that 
the Character of an Academy or mine in particular should want any other 
Basis but what is intrinsic and may be seen by all. 

My compliments to our dear Franklin. We are in hopes he will 
return with you. I beg also to be remembered to Mr. Penn, Mr. Morris 
and all your company, as also to the Gov'r'mt and as many of my New 
York Friends as are pleased to think of me. The clergy there I do not 
forget. Excuse my haste & the length of this, which flows from honest 
zeal for the wellfare of my dear pupils. Yours affectionately 

William Smith 

From this letter we gather an insight into the beginnings of 
Kings College, of which Dr. Johnson had assumed the Presidency 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 207 

but a few weeks before. The controversies which surrounded 
its birth, and of which indeed it was made the occasion, forbad 
Dr. Johnson working out a full curriculum at once, and in Mr. 
Smith's warm concern for his pupils he was loth to have them go 
thither under the circumstances and away from his tutelage ; 
though it was alike reasonable for Mr. Martin to desire his sons 
entered at a college nearer home, the support ofwhich was sought 
for from every active Churchman. But death soon solved the 
question for one of the lads : William Thomas Martin, the second 
son, died after a brief illness on 28th of August, 1754. And 
on Sunday, i September, the day after the funeral, Mr. Smith 
preached a sermon in Christ Church " On the Death of a Beloved 
Pupil," the first of his published discourses. With the sermon 
there were printed " A Collection of the Tears " of a few young 
gentlemen who were fellow students of the deceased, in verse, the 
writers being Francis Hopkinson, Samuel Magaw, Jacob Duche 
and Paul Jackson, with lines also from Thomas Barton. Hop- 
kinson's lines open and conclude thus : 

I call no aid, no muses to inspire, 
Or teach my breast to feel a poet' s fire ; 
Your soft expression of a grief sincere, 
Brings from our soul a sympathetic tear 

* * * * 

This only truth permits me to disclose. 

That in your own, you represent my woes ; 

And sweeter than my song, is your harmonious prose. 

In an obituary of the young man and a notice of the sermon 
printed in the Gazette, 5 September it is said : 

Our Academy has been remarkably happy, in sustaining so few Losses 
of this kind. For since it was first open' d this is but the second Youth 
that has died, in more than the Space of four Years : which among several 
Hundreds that have been constantly educating in it, is uncommon, as it 
has been long observ' d, in all the Schools and Colleges of Europe, that 
one out of an Hundred dies one Year with another. Our City was never 
known, upon the whole, so healthy in the Month of August, as this year, 
nor have we ever had fewer Deaths * * * As the Preacher seem'd 
sensibly touch' d with his subject, and was known to have loved the 



2o8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Deceased, who had grown up under him for several Years, and was a 
Plant reared by his own Hand, the Discourse had a very great effect upon 
the Audience. It is now in the Press, by the particular Desire and Advice 
of some who heard it, and will be published about the Middle of next 
week. ^ 

During Franklin's absence in the early part of 1755 in a 
tour in the New England States, he visited New Haven, at 
which time at a reception in College Hall the Rev'd Ezra Stiles, 
an alumnus of 1746, then a Tutor, and in 1778 President of 
Yale College pronounced a Latin oration in compliment to him. 
Franklin's friendship with the Rev. Jared Eliot, one of the Trus- 
tees of the College, and acquaintance with President Clap had in- 
duced him in 1749 to send an electrical machine to the College ; 
and the experiments made with it at this time by Mr. Stiles are 
claimed to have been the first of the kind in New England.^ 



2 " Personal Affliction and frequent Reflection upon human Life of great 
Use to lead man to the Remembrance of God." A Sermon, &c., Printed by B. 
Frankhn and D. Hall, 1754. 

* Yale College, Kingsley. i. 78, 103. This oration, " In Gratulatione Nobilis- 
simi et Amplissimi vivi B. Franklini, Armig. Fensylvan. De Honoribus suis, ob. 
Ratiocinia & Inventiones ejus eximlas et insignes in Electricismo ; oratio, quam ad 
Illum, in Aula Acad. Yal. Habuit. Ezra Stiles, Nonis Februarii, A. D. 1755," 
is given in full in William Temple Franklin's Alemoiis of the Life and Writings 
of his Grandfather, London, 1818, quarto Vol. i,p. 443, and octavo edition ii. 
289. Mr. Dexter, Assistant Librarian of Yale University, favors me with a copy from 
Dr. Stiles' original MS. of the oration ; the author must have furnished Dr. Franklin, 
upon request, with a copy, and this doubtless was found among the latter's papers 
from which it was inserted in the Memoirs ol 1818. This latter bears some verbal 
changes from the original which make no difference, however, in the proper render- 
ing. Air. Dexter writes me: "In February, 1755, the Tutors were the only resi- 
" dent instructors besides the President; and with President Clap's partiality for Stiles, 
"it is not strange that the duty of welcoming Franklin was committed to him." For 
a further reference to this interesting occasion see Mr. Dexter's Annals of the College 
History for 1754-55, ii. 355 : " Another distinguished writer in the following Feb- 
" ruary was Benjamin Franklin, who was now Deputy Postmaster General for the 
" North American Continent, and had already received the honors of the College for 
" his brilliant electrical discoveries, &c." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 209 



XXVII. 

We have seen that Mr. Smith was chosen Provost and Mr. 
Alison Vice-Provost in March, 1755, in advance of the passage of 
the new charter, in order to secure the names of the incumbents 
of these two offices being inserted in the draft of the charter. 
This new charter, as stated in a previous page, was based upon 
a suggestion to the Trustees in December, 1754, submitted by 
Mr. Alison and Mr. Smith, looking to securing the needed power 
of conferring degrees, which was not accorded in the charter of 
1753' These gentlemen, under instructions to draw up a clause 
to be added to the charter for that purpose, appeared at the Jan- 
uary meeting and " laid before the Trustees the Draught of a 
Charter " drawn up by Mr. Smith, 

for the Purposes mentioned in the Minute of 10 December last, which 
being long and containing several matters of Importance, Mr Francis Mr 
Peters Mr White and William Coleman are appointed a Committee to 
examine the same, and are desir'd to report thereon at the next meeting, 
[on 1 1 February] Mr Peters reported that the Committee appointed to 
examine the Draught of a Charter laid before the Trustees at their last 
meeting, after maturely considering the said Draught, had made a new 
one, varying from the former in several Particulars, and the said new 
Draught being produced by Mr Francis, was read, and considered Para- 
graph by Paragraph, and after a small Alteration was approved of and 
ordered to be engrossed. [On 7 March] the Trustees being now informed 
that the Governor agreeable to the Prayer of their Petition to him, was 
ready to grant them a Charter on the Terms of the above mentioned 
Draught, resolved to wait on him immediately in order to receive the same 
at his Hands. 

These were Messrs. Hamilton, Franklin, Inglis, Stedman, M'Call, 
Allen, White, Plumsted, Turner, Cadwalader, Strettell, Maddox, 
Peters, Phin. Bond, Francis, Tho. Bond, Leech, Masters, Syng 
and Coleman. But a clause in the charter excited some mis- 
apprehension as to its scope, which perhaps was only detected 
upon the due application of its terms ; and at the meeting of 13 
May, the only Minute recorded bears on the question : 

The new Charter lately granted to the Trustees being produced and 
read, some Objection was made to a clause therein, as tending to confirm 



2IO History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

any future Provost, Vice Provost and Professors in their respective offices 
during Life, which not being intended Mr Peters was desired to wait on 
the Governor in Behalf of the Trustees, and request he would be pleased 
to alter the same. 

This was accorded ; and on lo June, 1755, 
the clause in the new Charter objected to at the last Meeting having 
been altered by the Governor to the Satisfaction of the Trustees, and the 
Charter afterwards repass' d the Seal all the Trustees who attended this 
meeting [namely Messrs Franklin, Phin. Bond, Taylor, Cadwalader, Zach- 
ary, Peters, Stedman, Shippen, Masters, Hamilton, Strettell, Turner, 
Syng, Inglis, Tho. Bond, and Coleman,] except Lloyd Zachary, waited 
on the Governor as did likewise the Provost and Vice Provost ; and 
respectively took and subscribed the Qualifications thereby required in his 
Presence. And the Trustees in Consequence thereof do now assume the 
Name and Title of The Trustees of the College, Academy and 
Charitable School of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania, by which Name they are incorporated. 

Dr. Zachary never quahfied and took his seat in the Board ; but 
his death in November 1756 removed his name from the list of 
Trustees. At the meeting of 30 June Messrs. Francis, Maddoxand 
Mifflin, qualified and took their seats ; and on 1 1 July, Messrs. 
Allen and White appeared in like manner. As there are no min- 
utes between that date and 9 December, we find no record of the 
times Messrs. Leech, M'Call, and Plumsted took their seats under 
due qualification. 

Early information to the public was given of the passage of 
the first draft of this charter, by Franklin in the Gazette of 1 1 
March, 1755 : 

Last Friday an additional Charter passed the Great Seal of this 
Province by which a College, in the most extensive Sense of the Word, 
is erected in this city, and added to that Collection of Schools, formerly 
called the Academy, under the same general Government, the Trustees 
being now incorporated by the Name of "The Trustees of the Col- 
lege, Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia, in the 
Province of Pennsylvania." The Chief Masters are also made a 
Faculty, or learned Body, by the Name of ' ' The Provost, Vice Pro- 
vost, and Professors of the College and Academy of Philadel- 
phia in the Province of Pennsylvania," and a Power of admitting 
Students and others to the usual University Degrees is granted, under 
such wise and judicious Restrictions, that the Honors of the Seminary 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 211 

can hardly ever be prostituted to mean or venal Purposes, but must be 
the object of every Student's Ambition, who is capable of distinguishing 
between real and counterfeit Honor. That Clause in the Charter relating 
to Degrees shall be inserted in next Week's Gazette, that such as are 
desirous of the Honors of this College, may see on what terms they are to 
expect them, and how far they may be considered as real Honors. 



XXVIII. 

Four of the original trustees were now dead. To the names 
of Logan and Hopkinson, ah'eady recorded, were added 
Lawrence and Willing ; a fifth, Dr. Zachary participated no 
further in the councils of the Trustees. Isaac Norris who 
had succeeded Logan had tendered his resignation from 
want of time amid pressure of public duties. Governor Hamil- 
ton had been chosen 17 September, 1754, to succeed Mr. 
Lawrence; Mr. Alexander Stedman, on 11 February, 1755 to 
succeed Mr. Willing ; and Mr John Mifflin on 7 March, 1755 to 
fill the vacancy left by Mr. Norris. Both Hamilton and Sted- 
man attended the meeting which elected the new Provost and 
Vice-Provost, and Mifflin's election was had at the same meet- 
ing. Before we proceed in our narrative of the College under 
the creation given to it by the charter of 1755, let us learn 
somewhat of these new Trustees, who all shared actively in its 
work. 

James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, a Councillor, 
and a native of Accomac County, Virginia, was born about 
1 7 10. His sister, Margaret, was wife of Chief Justice Allen, 
one of the original Trustees of the Academy. His father own- 
ing lands in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, he was returned 
from there to the Provincial Assembly when but twenty-four 
years of age, and was re-elected five times therefrom. Removing 
afterwards to Philadelphia, he was made a member of Council 



2 12 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

in 1739, in 1741 an Alderman, was chosen Mayor in 
October, 1745, and while Mayor was called to a seat in the 
Provincial Council and qualified 17 January, 1746. Visiting 
England, he returned from there in November, 1748, bearing a 
commission from the Penns as Lieutenant-Governor of the Prov- 
ince. Franklin writing to James Logan 6 April, 1748, says, 
" You must have heard that Mr. James Hamilton is appointed 
our Governor ; an event that gives us the more pleasure, as we 
esteem him a benevolent and upright, as well as a sensible 
man." ^ His instructions from home hampered him in his deal- 
ings with the Assembly, whose bills for the issue of paper 
money could not meet his approval as they were without the 
required proviso that the operations of all such should be sus- 
pended until the Royal assent to them could be had. The 
assembly stood firm on their privileges, and the Governor was 
embarrassed, for the French were threatening and the Quaker 
assembly, averse to appropriations for war purposes, though not 
so to points of money "for the King's use," which would indeed 
cover many an object whether for war or for peace, could only 
recognize the issue of bills as the surest way of raising money 
even for the requirements of the province. Hamilton asked to 
be superseded, and a month after his election as a Trustee of 
the Academy he was relieved of the Governorship by the arrival 
in October, 1754, of Robert Hunter Morris, whose success with 
the Assembly was no better. " Weary of a service, which he 
found incompatible, if not with his notions of honor, at least 
with his repose, he had desired to be dismissed." ^ Hamilton 
remained in the Council, and was active in all efforts of the 
authorities to thwart the ravages of the Indians on the borders, 
traveling even in midwinter to secure proper organization of the 
inhabitants and friendly Indians, for in the year after his retiring 
from the Governorship Braddock's defeat had thrown the 
whole Province into consternation. He was again commissioned 
Lieutenant-Governor on 19 July, 1759, when on a visit to 

1 Bigelow, ii. 115. 

'Historical Review, in Sparks, iii. 280. In Franklin's letter to David Hume, 
27 September, 1760, he disclaims the authorship of this Review. Bigelow, iii. 125. 
But this disclaimer seems yet an open question with historians. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 213 

England, but on the understanding he be not restrained from 
assenting to any reasonable bill for taxing the Proprietary- 
estates in common with all other estates in the Provinces, This 
was the political sore of the Province, which grew into greater 
proportions in after years. In a letter to Thomas Penn, 21 
August, 1759, he says : 

Everybody knows I did not solicit my appointment to it; nor have I 
varied the terms, on which I professed to engage in it, one iota from the 
beginning. Those terms were that I would not be restrained from giving 
my assent to any reasonable bill for taxing the proprietary estates in 
common with all the other estates in the province, because in my opinion 
it was not more than just that it should be so. If you have changed 
your sentiments, with regard to this matter, which, for a long time I 
looked upon to be the same as mine, it will give me no pain on my own 
account. * * * * l think it incumbent on me to declare, as I 
have frequently done, that I cannot think of engaging myself in that 
service, but upon the terms and conditions above mentioned. ^ 

In 1760 a bill was introduced for raising i^ioo,ooo assess- 
ments to be on all alike ; but inasmuch as the assessors only 
represented the people and in their appointment the Penns had 
no voice, hamilton endeavored for some change in the bill, 
but without avail, and finally approved it under the necessity at 
that time existing for money, all his contention having been that 
the Proprietaries be put on an equal footing with all others. He 
was again relieved from the office by the arrival of John Penn 
in October, 1763, as Lieutenant Governor. On Mr. Penn's 
departure in May, 1 771, as President of the Council, Ham- 
ilton was for the third time acting Governor of the province, 
and in this term encountered the controversies of the 
Connecticut claimants in the Wyoming Valley. And again a 
fourth term for a few months after Richard Penn left the pro- 
vince in July, 1773. He stood apart from the movements of 
the Revolution, his pohtical associations drawing his sympathy 
to the English side. In 1777 he was a prisoner on parole 



Sparks, vii. 172. 



214 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

within the bounds of the province. He was at Northampton 
during the occupation of Philadelphia by the British, but returned 
here on a pass, not long after the enemy evacuated the city, 
and he returned to Bush Hill, which he had inherited from 
his father, the Woodlands west of the Schuylkill having been 
left to his brother Andrew. James Hamilton died in New York 
14 August, 1783. He was never married and his brother's son 
William succeeded to his estates including Bush Hill. 

He partook with his associates the like lively interest 
with them in the meetings of the Trustees and the affairs of the 
College, but his public concerns in the Council and otherwise 
forbad him a regular attendance at the meetings. His wealth 
joined to a personal influence gave him a position of great 
weight in the community, and a taste for scientific pursuits and 
a desire for the furtherance of public enterprises showed him to 
be a man of parts. He was for some years President of the 
Philosophical Society when it united with the Society for Pro- 
moting Useful Knowledge, and at the first election for the 
President of the new Society, 2 January, 1769, he and Franklin 
were placed in nomination, but the latter although then abroad, 
with his reputation in science and as the founder of the original 
Philosophical Society in 1743, was elected. The firmness and 
strength of his character are portrayed sufficiently in his letter 
to Thomas Penn already referred to. And there must have been 
between him and Franklin certain lines of sympathy in the pro- 
prietary contest, which was active at the time he was elected a 
Trustee, which served to bring the two often together in con- 
ference on the public situation. Hamilton's first administration 
as Governor is very completely portrayed in the Historical Reiew 
of Pennsylvania above referred to. 

Alexander Stedman was born in 1703 the son of Robert 
Stedman of Kinross. He took part in the Stuart rising of 1745, 
was taken prisoner after Culloden, but escaped to America and 
settled in Philadelphia, and made his peace with the mother 
country. He was a sound lawyer and profound mathematician. 
He was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 215 

21 March, 1764.* He was a Vestryman of Christ Church from 
1758 to 1766, and was Church Warden from 1759 to 1762. On 
the declaration of the colonies' independence he withdrew to 
England, and retired to Swansea where he died aged 91. He 
married Elizabeth daughter of William Chancellor of Peresford, 
Somerset. He and his brother Charles became largely inter- 
ested in Lancaster County lands, a large portion of which they 
sold in 1758 to Baron Stiegel, upon which the latter laid out the 
town of Manheim, and eventually he bought the entire Stedman 
interest in the tract.^ Alexander Stedman was one of the Com- 
mission in 1 756 appointed by Lieutenant Governor Morris to audit, 
adjust and settle the accounts of certain owners of horses and 
wagons, contracted for by Benjamin Franklin under General 
Braddock's service.^ 

Alexander's younger brother Charles, born 17 13, shared in 
the ill fortunes of the Stuarts, and came to Pennsylvania where 
his interests increased. He was a member of Christ Church 
Vestry in 1752-74 and again 1776-78 ; and was Church Warden 
in 1764 and 65, and was present at Mr Duche's house on 4 July, 
1776 when the Vestry unanimously passed the resolution 
requesting in the name of the vestry and their constitutents to 
omit the petitions in the liturgy for the royal family. Charles 
married in 1769 Ann, daughter of Dr Thomas Graeme. 

Sabine says of Alexander and his son Charles, Jr : " of Phila- 
delphia : the latter a lawyer. Both attainted of treason, and 
estates confiscated." ^ 



* He had been commissioned Associate Justice of the City Court 5 October, 
1756, and President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the City and County of 
Philadelphia in place of William Coleman, 8 April, 1758, and Presiding Justice of the 
Orphans' Court 9 December following. 

* Pennsylvania Magazine, i. 69 and viii. 68. 

^ Ibid., V. 336. Dr. William Drewet Smith was married to Miss Peggy 
Stedman daughter of Alexander Stedman, Esq., of this city. Peunsylvania 
Gazette 23 Aug. 1775. 

''Loyalists, ii. 581. Charles, Jr., became head of the Commissariat of the 
British army in the States, war prisoner in 1776 and again 1780, and was companion 
to Major Andre while in prison. He was author of the History of the Origin, Progress, 
and Termination of the American War. 2 vols, quarto, London, 1794. " The author 
thinks that Howe could have closed the war victoriously in the campaign of 1776." 
Allibone. 



2i6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

John Mifflin was born in Philadelphia i8 January, 171 5, 
the son of George Mifflin and grandson of John Mifflin of Wilt- 
shire, England, who was one of the first arrivals in Pennsyl- 
vania. He became a merchant of great prominence, and was 
elected a Councilman of Philadelphia in 1747, and an Alder- 
man in 175 1, to the latter office being chosen concurrently with 
Franklin. He had been but a few months Trustee of the 
Academy when he was on 2 November, 1755, called to the Pro- 
vincial Council. He was one of the Commissioners appointed 
by Act of Assembly to disburse the ;i^6o,ooo granted after a 
long struggle by the Assembly "for the King's use," a eupho- 
nious phrase denoting the defence of the Province, which the 
Assembly under its Friendly Control would not directly vote for 
military defence. He died in February, 1759, and was buried 
in Friends' Burying Ground. He was twice married, his second 
wife being Sarah daughter of William Fishbourne, whose widow 
married John Galloway. Mrs. Mifflin eventually married Mr. 
John Beale Bordley of Maryland. John Mifflin's eldest son 
Thomas, a graduate of the College and Academy in 1760, 
became a Trustee in 1773 ; his eminent services in the Revolu- 
tion and as the first Governor of Pennsylvania will demand a 
notice when we reach his election. His son by the second wife, 
John Fishbourne, was a graduate of the College and Academy in 
1775, and became a Trustee of the University in 1802. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 217 

XXIX. 

At the meeting of 10 June, 1755 "The President, Mr. 
Hamilton, Mr. Taylor, Doctor Phineas Bond, Mr. Peters, and 
Mr. Stedman, were appointed a Committee to Examine a 
Draught of Sundry Rules and Statutes now proposed to the 
Trustees to be enacted," doubtless prepared by the President and 
submitted by him for adoption. And at the meeting of 11 July, 

the President reported, That the Committee appointed at the last meeting 
to examine a Draught of sundry Rules and Statutes then laid before the 
Trustees, had after due consideration, made some Alterations therein ; and 
the same being now produced and read were approved and enacted, being 
in the following Words : 

RULES AND STATUTES OF THE COLLEGE, ACADEMY AND 
CHARITY-SCHOOL OF PHILADELPHIA. 

Sect. I. 

Of the General Powers of the Faculty in Executing Laws. 

As a Faculty, the Provost, Vice-Provost and Professors, shall have 
an immediate & general Regard to the Manners and Education of all the 
Youth, belonging to this College, Academy and Charity -School. 

They shall be invested with the Execution of all Laws, that shall 
from Time to Time, be made by the Trustees, for the wholsome Govern- 
ment of the several Members of the same ; excepting in those particular 
Cases, wherein, by Laws and Statutes hereafter to be enacted, it may be 
thought proper to restrict them. 

That they may more effectually discharge this Trust, they shall meet 
at least once a Fortnight in the College & Academy and oftener if the 
Provost think fit, or any two Members of the Faculty desire him to call a 
Meeting. 

When met, they shall diligently examine what Proficiency the 
Students make from Time to Time, under their respective Professors or 
Tutors ; and whether there be any Breach, or Neglect of the Laws of the 
Corporation among the Students, and shall determine all Matters by a 
Majority of Votes. 

In Consequence of these Determinations, the Person who presides 
at such Meetings, as hereinafter directed, shall, in the Name of the Fac- 
ulty, encourage and reward the deserving, & admonish, censure, or inflict 
such Mulcts & lesser Punishments on Delinquents, as the Majority of the 
Faculty so met, shall deem reasonable and conformable to the Laws then 
in Force. 



2i8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

But that Things of a more weighty Nature may be done with greater 
Deliberation and Solemnity, the Inflicting upon any Student or Students, 
the greater Punishments of Expulsion, Suspension and Degradation, shall 
be by Direction of the Trustees only when duly met. 

And, if at such Meetings of the Faculty it shall appear, that there 
has been a Neglect of Duty in any Professor, the Faculty shall admonish 
him in the most friendly Manner ; but if repeated Admonitions have not 
the proper Effect, they shall lay the Matter before the Trustees. 

Sect. 2. 
Of the Legislative Powers of the Faculty. 

And that a Body of good Laws may speedily be compiled & perfected 
by Persons, who from their daily Employments in this Seminary, have 
frequent Opportunities of discovering the Necessity, or Utility, of particular 
Regulations ; and because various Cases and Circumstances may arise, 
which no human Prudence can foresee, and against which the Laws then 
in Being have not sufficiently provided ; the Faculty, when met, shall from 
Time to Time, have Power to make such Ordinances and Regulations, as 
they, or the major Part of them, shall judge necessary, either for the 
Education of the Youth, or the better Government of the several Members 
of this College Academy & Charity-School. The Regulations and Ordi- 
nances so made by the Faculty, shall have the same Force as Laws and 
Statutes of the Trustees till their first ensuing Meeting ; before whom at 
their said first ensuing Meeting, all such Regulations and Ordinances shall be 
laid by the Provost or any other Person they may appoint for that Purpose. 

If at the first Meeting of the Trustees the said Regulations and 
Ordinances shall not be annulled, they shall still continue in Force, as 
Ordinances of the Faculty, subject to such Amendments & Alterations as 
the Trustees from Time to Time shall think proper ; till at last by them 
either annulled or ratified, and enrolled among the publick Statutes. 

Nevertheless no Regulation or Ordinance made by the Faculty shall 
be valid if they neglect to lay the same before the Trustees at their first 
ensuing Meeting as above directed, nor shall any Ordinance be made 
repugnant to the standing Laws of the Corporation. 

But if the Faculty find any Amendment or Alteration of a standing 
Law of the Corporation necessary, they shall propose the same to the 
Trustees for their Consideration. 

Sect. 3, 

Of the particular Powers and Duties of the Provost. 

The Provost shall have a general Inspection of the Morals and 
Behaviour of all the Youth, to admonish and regulate them in all Affairs 
of smaller Concern. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 219 

He shall also have Power to call a Meeting of the Faculty whenever 
he shall judge it necessary. 

In all Meetings of the Faculty, stated or occasional, he shall preside ; 
and likewise in all publick Acts and Disputations, and in publick Exami- 
nations and Commencements. 

Sect. 4. 

Of the Vice-Provost. 

During the necessary Absence of the Provost, the Vice-Provost shall 
be invested with all the Powers, and do the Duties of a Provost. 

Upon the Death, Cession or Removal, of the Provost, the Vice- 
Provost shall exercise all the said Powers as he was used to do in the 
ordinary Absence of the Provost, till a Successor be chosen and admitted. 

Sect. 5. 

Of the Senior Professor. 

In the necessary Absence of both the Provost and Vice-Provost 
all the aforesaid Powers shall be devolved upon the Senior Professor that 
shall be present, according to that Order of Precedence which shall from 
Time to Time be settled by the Trustees among the Professors, next after 
the Provost and Vice-Provost. 

In the College and At a Meeting of the Corporation, the 

Academy Hall July nth five foregoing Sections of Laws & Statutes 

1755, were enacted, and ordered to be enrolled 

in the Book of Statutes, and a Copy of 
them to be delivered to the Faculty. 

B. Franklin President of the 
Trustees. 

And the following three Laws or Statutes, drawn up by the President, 
after being read and consider' d by the Trustees, were also enacted, to wit : 

Laws or Statutes of the Trustees. 

Chap. I. 

Concerning Elections. 

It is enacted by the Trustees of the College, Academy and Charitable 

School of Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania, That all Elections 

to be made hereafter by the Trustees aforesaid, for the Time being. 

Whether of a President, Treasurer, Clerk, or other Officer of the Trustees, 

or of Provost, Vice-Provost, Professor of any Kind, or other Master, 

Usher, or Officer of the College, Academy or Charitable School, shall be 

made by written Tickets containing the Name or Names of the Person or 



2 20 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Persons voted for, put into the President's Hat by the Persons voting ; and 
the Choice appearing to be made by a Majority of such Tickets, shall be 
immediately entered by the Clerk in the Minutes of the Trustees Proceed- 
ings. 

Chap. II. 

Concerning the Meetings of the Trustees, & Officers to be chosen. 

It is enacted, That the Trustees shall meet on the second Tuesday 
of every Month throughout the Year, at the Academy, to visit the Schools, 
examine the Scholars, hear their publick Exercises, and transact such other 
Business as may come before them, and also at such other Times and 
Places as they shall adjourn to at such Meetings, or as they shall be called 
to meet at by the President on Special unforeseen Occasions. 

And at their first Meeting in the Month of May yearly they shall 
chuse a President, for the ensuing Year, whose particular Duty it shall be, 
when present, to regulate their Debates, and State the Questions arising 
from them ; to sign the Orders of the Trustees, and to direct Notices to be 
given of the Times and Places of their special Conventions. 

They shall also at the same Time, chuse one of their own Members 
to be Treasurer, who shall receive all Donations and Money due to them, 
and disburse and lay out the Same according to their Orders ; And at the 
End of each Year pay the Sum remaining in his Hands to his Successor. 

They shall also at the same Time chuse a Clerk for the ensuing 
Year ; whose Duty it shall be to keep an exact Account of the Times of 
all Admissions and Departures of Students, the Quarterly Sums due from 
each, and the Payments made ; and also to collect the Sums due from 
Time to Time, whether Entrance Money or Ouarteridge, and pay the same 
Quarterly into the Hands of the Treasurer. The Clerk shall also make 
out and deliver written Notices to the Trustees, one Day at least before 
each Meeting, of the Time & Place of such Meeting ; attend the Trustees 
at their Meetings, and take the Names of the Persons present, with true 
Minutes of their Proceedings. 

Chap. III. 
Of the Number of Trustees necessary to do Business. 

It is enacted That, due Notice having been left by the Clerk, in 
Writing, at the House of each Trustee, signifying the Time and Place of 
any Meeting of the Trustees, the Members that shall meet in pursuance of 
such Notice, may one Hour after the time appointed, proceed to consider 
any Business that shall come before them relating to their Trust ; and the 
Determination of a Majority of those so met, shall be as valid and con- 
clusive as if the whole Number of Trustees were present. 

Provided nevertheless. That when any Money is to be laid out or 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 221 

disposed of, exceeding the Sum of Twenty Pounds, or any Salary to be 
augmented at any Meeting of the Trustees, the same shall be first pro- 
posed at a preceding Meeting and particularly express' d in the written 
Notice to be given. 

In addition to the approval and enactment of the above 
The President, Mr. Peters and Mr. Inglis are appointed a Committee to 
consider the Rates to be paid by the Scholars in the General schools and 
to prepare a Scheme thereof, to be laid before the Trustees at their next 
Meeting. They are likewise desired to consider what Vacations and 
Hollidays ought to be allowed. 

We are without the results or report of this Committee's work, 
as there is an absence of all Minutes for five months those of 9 
December being the next recorded, but mention must not be 
omitted of their voting at this meeting " a Sum not exceeding 
one Hundred and Fifty pounds Sterling, be laid out in an Ap- 
paratus for exhibiting Philosophical Experiments." It was at 
this July meeting " Mr. Paul Jackson was chosen clerk to the 
Trustees for the ensuing year, and to be allowed Six pounds per 
annum for that service." Mr. Jackson had been a tutor for 
three years, and in less than a twelvemonth from this time we 
shall find him one of the Faculty. The faithful Trustee, Wil- 
liam Coleman, was thus relieved from the clerkship ; at the first 
meeting of the Trustees he was elected Treasurer, but on 17 
December, 1750, " Mr. William Coleman being requested to act 
as Clerk for the ensuing year, agrees to perform that service," 
but his year lengthened out to almost five years. The new 
clerk makes no note of explanation of this hiatus in the pro- 
ceedings of the Trustees. It was however a season of alarm in 
the Province, for Braddock's expedition which had raised the 
highest hopes of a final destruction to the efforts of the French 
and their Indian allies on our borders had by his defeat in July 
brought the colonists to the lowest straits of anxiety and alarm. 
General Braddock had landed at Alexandria, Virginia, with his 
confident troops and in his own greater confidence, and marched 
thence to Fredericktown, where he was obliged to halt for 
transportation. The unfortunate dissensions in the Pennsylvania 
Assembly, the non-resistants opposed to grants for military 
defence, and the executive hampered, Braddock had formed the 



222 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

impression that Pennsylvania was averse to aiding the King in 
this expedition. The Assembly deputed Franklin to visit the 
British General and under guise of arranging a postal service 
during his campaign to disabuse his mind of any wrong im- 
pressions held of the Pennsylvanians. The Minutes of 8 April 
simply state, " The Trustees should have met this Day, but 
most of them being engaged in Publick Business, no meeting was 
held;" Franklin was at the time with Braddock, and in his 
Autobiography says, ^ 

We found the General at Frederictown, waiting impatiently for the 
return of those he had sent through the back parts of Maryland and Vir- 
ginia to collect waggons. I stayed with him several days, dined with him 
daily, and had full opportunity of removing all his prejudices, by the infor- 
mation of what the Assembly had before his arrival actually done, and 
were still willing to do, to facilitate his operations. When I was about to 
depart, the returns of waggons to be obtained were brought in, by which it 
appeared, that they amounted only to twenty-five, and not all of those were 
in serviceable condition. The General and all the officers were surprised, 
declared the expedition was then at an end, being impossible ; and 
exclaimed against the ministers for ignorantly landing them into a country 
destitute of the means of conveying their stores, baggage, &c not less than 
one hundred and fifty waggons being necessary. I happened to say, I 
thought it was a pity they had not been landed rather in Pennsylvania, as 
in that country almost every farmer had his waggon. The General eagerly 
laid hold of my words, and said, Then you, sir, who are a man of interest 
there, can probably procure them for us ; and I beg you will undertake it. 

On his way North Franklin issued an Advertisement from 
Lancaster on 26 April, where he would attend " from this day 
to next Wednesday evening, and at York from next Thursday 
morning till Friday evening," calling for the needed wagons 
and horses, and offering to contract for the same ; and at the 
same time issued an Appeal to the Inhabitants of the Counties 
of Lancaster, and York, concluding, 

the King's business must be done ; so many brave troops, come so far for 
your defence, must not stand idle through your backwardness to do what 
may be reasonably expected from you ; wagons and horses must be had ; 
violent measures will probably be used, and you will be left to seek for a 
recompense where you can find it, and your case perhaps be little pitied 
or regarded. 

1 Bigelow, i. 250. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 223 

Of Franklin's success in this appeal, history makes full 
record ; but as the colonists 

alleged they did not know General Braddock, or what dependence might 
be had on his promise, insisted on my bond for the performance, which I 
accordingly gave them . 

Franklin was in Philadelphia by the meeting of 13 May ; 
and on 24 June attended the Grand Lodge of Masons, of 
which he was Deputy Grand Master, held in their new Lodge, 
from which the body proceeded to Christ Church, where the 
Rev. William Smith, who had been a Mason before he came to 
America, preached a Sermon,^ entitled An earnest Exhortation 
to Religion, Brotherly Love and public Spirit, in the present 
Dangerous State of Affairs ; which forms the second of his 
published Discourses, the text of which is. Love the Brother- 
hood ; fear God ; honor the King. In this the young Provost 
earnestly pleaded for a proper resistance to the enemy and 
defence of one's home, and struck the key note of those who 
blamed the Quakers in the Assembly who scrupled to defend 
the Province by armed resources ; 

The doctrine of Non resistance, * * * is now sufficiently 
exploded ; and may it be for ever treated with that sovereign Contempt, 
which it deserves among a wise and virtuous people. God gave us Free- 
dom as our Birthright, and in his own government of the world he never 
violates that Freedom, nor can those be his Vicegerents who do. To say 
they are, is blaspheming his holy name, and giving the lie to his righteous 
authority. The Love of Mankind and the Fear of God, those very prin- 
ciples from which we trace the divine original of just government, would 
lead us, by all probable means, to resist every tryant to destruction, who 
should attempt to enslave the free-born Soul, and oppose the righteous will 
of God, by defeating the happiness of Man * * * Suffer me now to 
apply what has been said, by earnestly charging every one of this audience 
to a conscientious observance of these duties ; for if there ever was a 
people, in a more peculiar manner, called to observe them, we who inhabit 
these colonies are that people. Being yet in our infancy, and surrounded 



2 " Forty years will this day have finished the long period, since I first 
addressed from this pulpit, a grand Communication of Brethren, with our great fel- 
low-laborer, the venerable Franklin, at their head." Dr. Smith's Sermon in St. 
Peter's Church, 24 June, 1795. Works, ii. 74. But Dr. Smith overlooked, at this 
long interval, the fact that the early sermon was in Christ Church. Works, ii. 27. 
St. Peter's Church was not then existing. 



224 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

with restless enemies, our Strength, our Success, and our future glory, 
depend upon our trust in God, our love and unanimity among ourselves, 
and obedience to that one thing, which is necessary to collect our scattered 
rays, and pour them, with impressive force, upon the heads of our 
proud foes. * * * Shall we, whose souls have been taught to exult at 
the sacred sound of liberty, not be roused, animated, and enflamed, by 
our present danger, to secure a treasure which includes in it almost every 
human felicity? Things of inferior concern maybe adjusted at another 
season; and those who pretend to the greatest public spirit, should be the 
first to give a proof of it, by turning their attention to the main chance, at 
a juncture when our strength and success so evidently depend on unanim- 
ity and immediate action. Is this is a time for dissensions about matters 
of trivial moment, when the very vitals of Liberty are attacked, which, 
once gone, may never be recovered ? Is this a time to decline toils or 
dangers, or expence, when all lies at stake, for which a wise man would 
choose to live, or dare to die ! 

So impressive was this Discourse and so timely its senti- 
ments that the young preacher not yet thirty years of age,, 
whose pulpit power was now further established in the com- 
munity, was requested to give a copy of it for the press. 



XXX. 

Braddock was then within a fortnight of his defeat and 
death. But of the confidence felt in the community generally 
in his success Franklin mentions an incident showing their faith 
in it of the two doctors Bond, his fellow trustees. 

Before we had the news of this defeat, the two doctors Bond came to 
me with a subscription paper for raising money to defray the expense of a 
grand firework, which it was intended to exhibit at a rejoicing on receiving 
the news of our taking Fort Duquesne. I looked grave, and said, it 
would, I thought, be time enough to prepare the rejoicing when we knew 
we should have occasion to rejoice. They seemed surprised that I did not 
immediately comply with their proposal. " Why the d — 1 " said one of 
them "you surely don't suppose that the fort will not be taken.?" "I 
don' t know that it will not be taken ; but I know that the events of war 



History of the University of Pennyslvania. 225 

are subject to great uncertainty." ^ I gave them the reasons of my doubt- 
ing ; the subscription was dropt, and the projectors thereby missed the 
mortification they would have undergone, if the firework had been pre- 
pared. Dr Bond, on some other occasion afterward, said, that he did not 
hke Franklin' s forebodings. 

Those April days passed in Braddock's society at Frederic- 
town had not given FrankHn confidence in the general's ability 
to succeed in such untried warfare. When Braddock was detail- 
ing to him his confident plans by which Fort Duquesne would 
easily be taken, and fi-om thence to Niagara for its capture, and 
thence to Frontenac " if the season will allow time, and I sup- 
pose it will, for Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or 
four days, and then I see nothing that can obstruct my march 
to Niagara." 

But Franklin ^ ventured only to say. To be sure, sir, if you arrive 
well before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well provided with artil- 
lery, that place not yet compleatly fortified, and as we hear with no very 
strong garrison, can probably make but a short resistance. The only 
danger I apprehend of obstruction to your march is from ambuscades of 
Indians, who, by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and executing 
them ; and the slender line, near four miles long, which your army must 
make, may expose it to be cut like a thread into several pieces, which, 
from their distance, cannot come up in time to support each other. He 
smiled at my ignorance, and reply' d. These savages, may, indeed, be a 
formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the King's 
regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make any 
impression. I was conscious of an impropriety in my disputing with a 
military man in matters of his profession, and said no more. 

But Braddock's boast was remembered to the discourage- 
ment of Dr Bond's proposed firework. 

This serious reverse to the British arms brought renewed 
dangers to the frontiers ; the proprietaires, yet unwilling to suffer 
taxation on their lands, now thoroughly alarmed, added five 
thousand pounds of their money to whatever sum might be 
given by the Assembly for such purpose ; whereupon the 
Assembly passed a new bill with a clause exempting from taxa- 
tion their estates, and voted sixty thousand pounds, chiefly for 

^ Bigelow, i. 263. ^ Bigelow, i. 258. 



226 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the defence of the province, which was to be disposed of by- 
seven commissioners, Benjamin Frankhn, Isaac Norris, James 
Hamilton, John Mifflin, Joseph Fox, Evan Morgan and John 
Hughes. Frankhn says 

I had been active in modelling the bill and procuring its passage, 
and had, at the same time, drawn a bill for establishing and disciplining a 
voluntary militia, which I carried thro' the House without much difficulty, 
as care was taken in it to leave the Quakers at their liberty. * * * 
While the several companies in the city and country were forming, and 
learning their exercise, the governor prevail' d with me to take charge of 
our North Western frontier, which was infested by the enemy, and provide 
for the defense of the inhabitants by raising troops and building a line of 
forts. I undertook this military business, tho' I did not conceive myself 
well qualified for it. * * * I had but little difficulty in raising men, 
having soon five hundred and sixty under my command. * * * The 
Indians had burned Gnadenhut, a village settled by the Moravians, and 
massacred the inhabitants. * * * In order to march thither, I assem- 
bled the companies at Bethlehem, the chief establishment of those people. 

He with Hamilton and Fox left Philadelphia on i8 Decem- 
ber " for the Frontiers in order to settle Matters for the 
Defence of the Province."^ On 15 January, 1756 he writes to his 
wife 

I hope in a fortnight or three weeks, God willing, to see the intended 
line of forts finished, and then I shall make a trip to Philadelphia, and 
send away the lottery tickets, and pay off the prizes, though you may pay 
such as come to hand of those sold in Philadelphia of my signing. 

This reference was to the second class of the Academy 
Lottery, the drawings for which had been made on 25 December, 
the first class drawings having been on 28 August. On his 
return to Philadelphia, early in February, he was commissioned 
Colonel, William Masters Lieutenant Colonel, and John Ross 
Major of the Philadelphia Regiment* He writes to his sister 
on 1 2 February,^ 

I am just returned from my military expedition, and now my time is 
taken up in the Assembly. Providence seems to require various duties of 
me. I know not what will be next, but I find, the more I seek for leisure 
and retirement from business, the more I am engaged in it. 

' Pennsylvania Gazette, i8 December, 1755. 

*" Ibid, 19 February, 1756. ^ Bigelow, ii. 455. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 227 

In the month following he visits Virginia with Col. Hunter his 
associate postmaster general, from whence he did not return 
home until early in June. His attendance at the meeting of the 
Trustees this month was his first for the year. He was immedi- 
ately afterwards in New York. And in November he was again 
drawn North by the restlessness of the Indians, with whom a 
conference was held at Easton beginning on the 8th, when he 
and Fox and Masters, and Hughes, were delegates from the 
Assembly, and Dr. Peters and William Logan from the Council. 

His many absences of late brought some inconvenience to 
the Trustees, and at the meeting of 1 1 May, 1756, while he was in 
Virginia, the annual election recurring afforded the opportunity 
for electing Dr. Peters President for the ensuing year. Besides the 
June meeting, he attended those in September and December, 
and that of ii January, 1757, but on 4 April following he set 
out on his first mission to England as representative of the 
Assembly and his immediate counsels were from that time lost 
to his fellow Trustees. 

At the time of Dr. Peters succession to the Presidency a 
minute was adopted 

as the Trustees apprehended that in Case of the Absence or Indisposition 
of their President they were not authorised to meet on Special Occasions, 
how much soever the Nature of the Case might require their immediate 
Attention, it was Resolved that in Case of the absence or Sickness of the 
President, the Senior Trustee shall be vested with all the powers of a 
President by Virtue of which he is to call special meetings and preside in 
them ; 

which action freed them from the difficulties often arising 
in Franklin's absence. 

When FrankHn's mission of 1757 was initiated the words 
of the Assembly's resolution of 28 January were that a 
Committee " be appointed to go Home to England on behalf 
of the People of this Province to solicit a Removal of the 
Grievances we labour under by Reason of Proprietary In- 
structions," and when Isaac Norris the Speaker and Benjamin 
FrankHn were next day " requested to go," it was still " to go 
Home to England." The light of later days dims to our sight 



228 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the appealing force of those words we find in the votes of As- 
sembly, which the people employed to express their hope that 
redress would be found at Home in England. *" The Revolu- 
tionary War, which culminated a score of years later over- 
shadows to us the stirring politics and the Indian Warfare which 
lay in a long series of years behind that ; but upon a study of those 
times we must reach some realization of the stir and commotion, 
the fears and anxieties of those earlier years in which ourforefathers 
were being schooled for greater things. The College and 
Academy furnished from its Trustees men who joined in all the 
issues of the time, and no meeting could convene in the interests 
of their young institution without some of them exchanging sen- 
timents on the events of the day. Among the Trustees all 
shades of political opinion and religious thought were repre- 
sented, and the politics of those days were as sharply defined 
and as penetrating as any we ourselves are participants in ; but 
we cannot to-day measure the happy influences which must 
have flowed from these meetings, the common interests on behalf 
of the Academy must have smoothed away the asperities of the 
Assembly or the Press, at the least for the time being, and 
friendships were maintained and continued which otherwise 
might have been severed. But the growing public concerns in 
which Franklin became involved by his own aptitude and the 
selection of either Assembly or Governor, was now telling on 
his attendance at the College and Academy and the meetings of 
its trustees ; and finally his long absences abroad made a com- 
plete severance, and the way was soon open for the uncharity of 
politics to lessen his influence and mar his plans in the great 
work of a firm and sound'educational institution which was second 
in his affections to no other of his creations. 



^ It was in the same light, that a few years later the Vestry of Christ Church 
at a meeting held 4 December, 1760, voted an address to the Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, of thanks for the Society's compliance with 
their request of the previous year in the disposition of the Jauncey bequest, by 
directing " Cliuch Warden Harrison to draw a fair copy and send it hoi/te.^^ 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 229 



XXXI. 

Meanwhile the work of the College proceeded amid all the 
clash of arms and wrangle of politics and the young men were 
being fitted for their stations in life by the faculty ; the young 
Provost with his happy facility of devising pleasant exercises for 
the pupils and encouraging them by bringing them skillfully to 
the notice of the community, early arranged for one of the pub- 
lic exercises in which his management was so successful. Noth- 
ing could be more helpful to them as well as to the institution in 
furthering the interests of all than these efforts of Mr. Smith. 
Six months had not elapsed before he planned his first public 
exhibition of their oratorical powers, and the Pennsylvania 
Gazette of 14 November, 1754, affords us aigraphic account of the 
entertainment in " Our Academy " which was of a novel character 
for the quiet city of Philadelphia, but full of great promise to 
all who had any interest in the furtherance of the cause of 
education in the Province. 

Last Tuesday the Students in Philosophy which compose the higher 
class in our Academy delivered a Series of publick Exercises before the 
Trustees. As their Exercises were the first of the Kind in our young 
Seminary, they drew together a large Audience of Ladies and Gentlemen, 
particularly his Honour our Lieutenant Governor ; his Excellency John 
Tinker, Esq., Governor of Providence ; the Honourable James Hamilton, 
Esq. , our late Governor, with several other Persons of Distinction. 

The exercises were ushered in with a Prologue, which (excepting the 
Lines marked with the inverted Comma) was written by the ingenious 
young Author who spoke it. The marked lines were added or altered by 
the Hand that wrote the Epilogue, and digested the Whole. After the 
Prologue, the Exercises were as follows ; 

1st On the Advantages of Education in General. 

2nd An Enquiry into the several Branches of Education, in order to 
ascertain the just Importance or Moment of each. 

3d. An Address to the Trustees of the Academy, and to his Honour 
the Lieutenant Governor, &c 

4th On Logick 

5th On Method 

6th On Moral Philosophy 

7th A Hymn to Philosophy 



230 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The whole concluded with an Occasional Epilogue spoken by Master 
Billy Haniiltott. As he is a child under Nine years of age, and spoke 
it with a great deal of Humour and Propriety, it gave inexpressible Satis- 
faction to the Audience. 

The Prologue and Epilogue are subjoined ; and the Exercises will be 
published in our future Papers, by particular desire, as they form a regular 
Treatise on the Sciences. 

In the Prologue which was spoken by young Duche, 
occur his Hnes. addressing the Trusrees : 

You who in polish' d Arts and Merits Shine 

The Kind protectors of the Sacred Nine, 

Whose Patriot Toils, your country' s Pride and Grace, 

Build up her Fame on Virtue' s lasting Base ; 

To you our first Essays in Prose belong, 

Be you the Patrons of our early Song. 1 

Master Billy Hamilton, who spoke the Epilogue " with a 
great deal of Humor and Propriety," became the graduate of 
1762, and is principally known to us as the builder of Wood- 
lands Mansion, but his political attitude in the Revolution did 
not afford his fellow citizens any inexpressible satisfaction. 

We have seen that at the meeting of 30 June, 1755, the 
Trustees proposed to " visit Mr. Smith's school and inform 
themselves particularly " in the Branches he taught and the 
proficiency of his pupils, the result being full satisfaction to 
them and bringing to a conclusion at their meeting following 
the question of his salary. And to afford a more public exhibit 
of his work and display the success of his pupils, he planned a 
programme for the 22 July, in which many of them could 
show to their parents and friends the high mark they had 
reached in learning and composition. A notice of this can best 
be told in the words of the Pennsylvania Gazette of 31 July, 
which doubtless were contributed in the language of the Provost, 
whose " Hand digested the whole," as in the Exercises of the 
previous November, and whose communications for the public 
eye were the composition of a master in this art. 

We hear that Philosophical Discourses, on the following Subjects, 



1 A MS copy of this performance in Mr. Smith's handwriting is among the 
Penn Papers on file with the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 231 

were delivered in the College aitd Academy Hall on Tuesday the Twenty 
Second Instant by several of the Students greatly to the Satisfactioti of a 
numerous and Polite Audience, viz : 

Moral 

1. On the Stipreme Good, by John Hall 

2. Oji Temperance, by James Latta 

Miscellaneous and Political 

3. On the Uses and Pleasures of Imagination, by Francis Hopkinson 

4. On the Distribution of Power and different Forms of Governmettt, by 

William Masters 

5. On the Necessity of human Force to the Support of human Government, 

by Israel Martin 

6. On the Question — " Whether a State of Nature (so-called) be a State of 

War ? " — By three Speakers in the Forensic Manner, viz: Samuel 
Magaw, Hugh Williamson and Jacob Duche. 

The fifth and sixth subjects were clearly Political, and 
bore on questions which were then uppermost in the minds of 
the community, and in which the Provost's interest and activities 
were second to none of his fellow citizens. 

The Trustees had at their meeting of 30 June, 1755 author- 
ized an expenditure of £\\Z- " concerning the Alterations neces- 
sary to be made in the Hall," which embraced 

a Gallery along three sides of the Hall finished like those of Mr, Ten- 
nent's Building,^ the Fronts painted, and under side of the Joice plaister'd 
without any Pews made * -=^ * a Platform for accommodating the 
Trustees, the Masters, Candidates for Degrees, and Strangers of Distinc- 
tion on publick occasions, 

and other items of lesser dignity; thus preparing fitting accom- 
modations for pupils, masters, and visitors on all special occa- 
sions, so that this commodious building so happily secured in 
the outset of the enterprise was gradually being made fit for all 
its employments both regular and occasional. 



The Second Presbyterian Church. 



232 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XXXII. 

Two names now first appear on the roll of tutors, those of 
Hugh Williamson and James Latta, who were both members of 
the first graduating class, both becoming eminent in their call- 
ings, the former in particular, attaining celebrity in Mathematics 
and Medicine and also as a Politician, and becoming one of the 
Faculty as Professor of Mathematics when he was twenty-six 
years of age. At the meeting of 9 December, 1755, Franklin 
in the chair — the first recorded since that of 1 1 July, it was 

ordered that Hugh Williamson and James Latta, who have alternately sup- 
plied the Place of one Usher in the Latin School from the 13th of June 
until the ist of November, be paid after the rate of sixty pounds per 
annum for their Attendance during the above Term, and that their future 
Salaries be ascertained at the next meeting of the Trustees. 

Action on this was not reached until 10 Februar}' follow- 
ing, when the following Minute appears : 

Hugh Williamson the present Writing Master and James Latta Tutor in 
the Latin School are ordered each the sum of Fifty Pounds as their stated 
annual Salaries. 

We shall desire to know somewhat more both of Williamson 
and Latta in the course of our narrative. 

The Provost attends the meeting of Trustees on 13 April, 
1756, there being a goodly number present, namely, Mess. 
Allen, Peters, Turner, Cadwalader, Shippen, Mifflin, Strettell, 
Masters, Maddox, Coleman, Stedman, Leech, and Inglis, Frank- 
lin being then absent on Post Office duty in Virginia ; and he 
sketched out to them a more equitable division of the faculty 
work which was assented to. The minute tells its own story : 

Mr. Smith represented to the Trustees, that the number of Classes 
which study Philosophy being now increased to three and likely always to 
continue at that Number, it would be no longer possible for him with what 
Assistance Mr. Grew can spare from his present Business to carry on the 
proposed Scheme of liberal Education, unless some further Assistance was 
granted. 

It was therefore agreed that in the present Situation of the Funds 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 233 

the only possible Method of doing Justice to the Situation without any 
addition to the present Number of Teachers, is as follows : 

That Mr. Alison be appointed a Professor of the Higher Classics, 
Logic, Metaphysicks and Geography ; and that he teach any of the other 
Arts and Sciences that he may judge himself qualified to teach, as the 
Circumstances of the Philosophy Schools may require ; but if it so happen 
that Mr. Smith can spare time from his Imployment in the other Branches 
of Literature to teach any of these Branches, then and in that case Mr. 
Alison shall employ the overplus of his Time, as usual in the Grammar 
School in the capacity of Chief Master. 

That Mr. Jackson be appointed a Professor of the Languages to 
employ his Time in the Grammar School and to have the Care of all the 
Latin and Greek Classes that are not under Mr. Alison's more immediate 
Care while he is employed in the Philosophy School. And in consideration 
of Mr. Jackson's being appointed a Professor, and having declined an 
advantageous Offer made him by the Overseers of the Quaker School it is 
agreed to augment his Salary to the sum of One Hundred and Fifty Pounds 
per annum, commencing from the Time the said offer was made him, viz : 
in September, 1755. 

That whenever Mr Kinnersley is supply" d with an Assistant agreeable 
to a late order of the Trustees, Mr Williamson shall spend the Whole of 
his Time in the Latin School to supply Mr Alison' s Place, while employed 
in the upper Schools. 

The Provost, with his ready thought, suggested at this 
meeting the early preparation of a Seal for the use of the Cor- 
poration. And it was agreed 

That Mr Smith prepare a public Seal for the CoUedge with a proper 
Device and Motto and get the same speedily engraved on Silver. 

We find by Mr. Coleman's cash account, under date of 1 1 
July following, that he "pd. James Turner, Engraver, for a Seal 
with device, &c. ;;^i8. I9.9(i'." 

A few days later we hear of another of Mr. Smith's pleasant 
plans for bringing the pupils of the Academy to the notice of the 
community. 

To-morrow, at Ten o'clock, in the Forenoon, the public Examination 
of Candidates for Degrees in the College of Philadelphia, will be begun, 
and continued that Day and part of the Day following. The Company of 
such of the Inhabitants of this City as please to attend, will be very agree- 
able. 1 



1 Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 April, 1756. 



234 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XXXIII. 

We come now to the Provost's formula or scheme for a 
complete curriculum, which must be our guide in estimating in 
the coming years his system of education in the College, which 
was unequalled in any institution in this new Western country 
for its comprehensiveness and thoroughness. We first receive 
knowledge of it at this meeting in April, 1756, when it was 

Agreed that a Scheme of liberal Education offered by the Faculty for the 
Approbation of the Trustees be tried for the space of three Years from 
this Date and that Mr Smith publish the Same in Order to obtain the Sen- 
timents of Persons of Learning and Experience concerning it. 

It first saw publication in the Pennsylvania Ga::ette of 12 
August, 1756. The Trustees were conservatively inclined, and 
before committing themselves to adopting for all time the cur- 
riculum proposed, sought for it publicity in order to draw upon it 
the criticisms, or to speak more courteously, the Sentiments of 
the Learned and Experienced. The substantial continuance of 
its employment through Provost Smith's career proved its excel- 
lence and its adaptability to the wants of the College ; and we 
must read it here in its entirety to judge of its great merits. 

The source of this excellent formula may be found in 
the curriculum at King's College, Aberdeen, where William 
Smith had been trained a decade before. While there may be 
amendments to it, induced by local circumstances and drawn 
from his own rare ingenuity, it may be said to be substantially 
framed on that course, to which he had an attachment, and 
of which he had doubtless proved its great merits. But whence 
ever its origin or conception, it is the first complete curriculum 
for a college training which the American colonies had yet 
witnessed or recognized, and will stand for all time as the fore- 
runner in all advanced education on these shores. 

For the Historical Account and Present State of the 
"University and King's College of Aberdeen " and the " Maris- 
chal College and University of Aberdeen," to the close of the 
last century, including their courses of study, we refer to 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 235 

Thorn's History of Aberdeen} Quoting from the Appendix 
containing the account of King's College, it is said : 

In the year 1753 the whole plan of discipline and education in King's 
College was brought under review for the purpose of improvement. A 
great number of statutes relative to these objects, since known by the name 
of " The New Regulations," were enacted by the College, and submitted 
to the examination of the public. In framing these regulations, the cele- 
brated Dr. Reid's opinion and views respecting education, are supposed in 
general to have prevailed. * * ^ That less time than usual should be 
spent in the logic and metaphysics of the schools, and a great part of the 
second year be employed in acquiring the elements of natural history in all 
its branches ; that the professor of Greek and humanity should open 
classes for the more advanced students during the three last years of their 
course ; that a museum of natural history should be fitted up and furnished 
with specimens for the instruction of the students, and that a collection of 
instruments and machines relative to natural philosophy, and a chemical 
laboratory for exhibiting experiments in that science, should be provided 
with all convenient speed. For some years the good effects of these regu- 
lations seemed very flattering, and the masters thought they might con- 
gratulate themselves upon ' ' having under their care a set of the most regular 
and diligent students to be found anywhere in the King' s dominions, ' ' 
(printed memorial to Lord Findlater, chancellor, relative to the union, 
1755)- 

It will be recalled^ that Mr. Smith was in Aberdeen at the 
close of 1753, having proceeded immediately after his ordina- 
tion in London Northwards to visit his "honored father," and 
where he preached his maiden sermon in the kirk in which he 
was baptised. And he may then have procured a copy of The 
New Regulations which became useful to him in his per- 
formance of 1756. 

This proposed scheme,^ is in the form of Views of the 
Latin and Greek Schools and of the Philosophy School, arid 
was "subscribed by the Faculty of masters." 



1 By Walter Thorn, 2 vols. Aberdeen, 1811. With Appendices I and II. 

^ Smith, i. 39. 

3" It was not until Dr. Smith established at the College of Philadelphia, in 
1756, the first graded course of studies of a higher kind ever pursued in an American 
College, that a young man here had an opportunity of laying broad and deep the foun- 
dations of a liberal culture, such as he would have enjoyed had he gone abroad for 
that purpose." Provost Stille in his Life and Times of john Dickinson, p. 15. 



236 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



A View of the Latin and Greek Schools. 
1st Stage. Grammar. Vocabulary. Sententise Pueriles. Cordery, ^^sop. 
Erasmus. 

N. B. To be exact in declining and conjugating. To begin to 
write Exercises, for the better understanding of Syntax. Writing and 
Reading of English to be continued if necessary. 
2nd Stage. Selecta; e veteri Testament©. Selectae e profanis Authoribus. 
Eutropius. Nessos. Metaphorphosis. Latin Exercises and Writing 
continued. 
3rd Stage. Metamorphosis continued. Virgil with Prosody. Caesar's 
Comment. Sallust. Greek Grammar. Greek Testament. Elements 
of Geography and Chronology. Exercises in Writing continued. 
4th Stage. Horace. Terence. Virgil reviewed. Livy. Lucian. Xeno- 
phon or Homer begun. 

N. B. This Year to make Themes; write Letters; give Descrip- 
tions and Characters. To turn Latin into English, with great Regard 
to Punctuation and choice of Words. Some English and Latin Ora- 
tions to be delivered, with proper Grace both of Elocution and Gesture. 
Arithmetic begun. 

Probably some youths will go thro' these Stages in three years, many 
will require four years, and many more may require five years, especially if 
they begin under nine or ten years of age. The masters must exercise 
their best discretion in this respect. 

Those who can acquit themselves to satisfaction in the books laid 
down for the fourth stage, after public examination, are to proceed to the 
study of the sciences, and to be admitted into the College as Freshmen, 
with the privilege of being distinguished with an undergraduate's gown. 
The method of study to be prosecuted in the College for the term of three 
years, follows in one general view: 

View of the Philosophy Schools, 
p'orenoon 
Instrumental Philosophy 
Lecture I Lecture H 

Lat. & Engl. Exercises Arithmetic reviewed 
continu'd 



First Year 

Freshmen May 15 

First Term 

Three Months 

Second Term 

Three Months 



January 
Third Term 
Four Months 



Logic with Metaphysics 



Decimal Arithmetic 

Algebra 

Fractions and Extract. Roots 

Equations simple and 

quadratic 
Euclid {Stone) Six Books 



Euclid a Second Time 
Logarithmical Arithmetic 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 



237 



Remarks. 



Second Year 
Juniors, May 15 
First Term 
Three Months 
Second Term 
Three Months 



January 

Third Term 
Four Months 



Third Year 
Seniors May 1 5 



First Term 
Three Months 



Seco7id Term 
Three Months 



January 
Third Term 
Four Months 



N. B. At leisure hours 
Disputation begun. 

Duncan's Logic as a 
Classic ; to be sup- 
plied by Le Clerc, or 
C r u s a z on Syllo- 
gisms. 

Logic, &c reviewed 

Surveying and Dialling 

Navigation 

Conic Sections 
Fluxions 

Moral Philosophy 

begun, 
vis: Fordyce's compend. 
System . 



N. B. Disputation con- 
tinu'd. Fordyce well 
understood will be an 
excellent Introduction 
to the larger Ethic 
Writers 



Hutcheson's Ethics. 



Burlamequi on Natural 
Law 

Introduction to Civil His- 
tory. 

to Laws and Gov- 
ernment 

to Trade and Com- 
merce 

Review of the Whole 

Examinat. for Degree of 
B. A. 



N. B. On Construction of 
Logarithms, use Wilson's 
Trigonometry, and Sher- 
win's compleat Tables by 
Gardiner. 



Plain & Spherical Trigo- 
nometry 



Euclid nth Book 

1 2th Ditto 

Architecture with Fortificat. 
Nat. Philosophy, begun 

vis: Rowning's Propert. of 
Body 

Mechanic Powers 

Hydrostatics 

Pneumatics. 

N. B. Declamation con- 
tinued. Rowning a 
general System may be 
supplied by the larger 
Works in the last Column, 
recommended for private 
Study 

Rowning on Light and 
Colours 

Optics 

Perspective, Jesuits 



Astronomy, KeiV s 

Natural History of Vege- 
tables 
of Animals 

Chemistry, Shaiv s'^o&x- 
haave 
of Fossils 
of Agriculture: 



238 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



First Year 



Freshman, May 1 5 

Mrst Term 

Three Months 



Second Term 
Three Months 



January 
Third Term 
Four Months 



Second Year 

Juniors May 15 

First Term 

Three Months 



Second Term 
Three Months 



N. B. Altho' it is tho't 
necessary to fix some 
Classics as a Text to 
read the Lectures by, 
yet there must be a 
Liberty of changing 
them left when needful 
Afternoon 
Classical and Rhetoric 
Studies 
Lecture III 

Homer's Iliad 
Juvenal 



Pindar 

Cicero, Select Parts 

Livy resumed 



Thucydides, or 
Euripides 
Wells's Dionysius 

A^. B. Some Afternoons 
to be Spared for 
Declamation this year 



Rhetoric from Preceptor 
Longinus critically 



Horace' s Art 

critically 
Aristot. Poet, critically. 
Quintilian, Select Parts. 



N. B. Thro' all the years 
the French Language 
may be Studied at 
leisure Hours. 



Private Hours 
Miscellaiieotis Studies 

For improv. the various 
Brajiches 

Spectators, Ramblers, 
and monthly Maga- 
zines, for the Improve- 
ment of Style and 
Knowledge of Life. 

Barrow' s Lectures, Par- 
die' s Geometry, Mac 
laurin's Algebra, 
Ward's Mathematics, 
Keir s Trigonometry. 

Watts' s Logic, and Sup- 
plement, Locke on 
Human Understand- 
ing, Hutcheson' s 
Metaphysics, V a r e - 
nius's Geography, 
Watts' s Ontology and 
Essays, Kingde Origine 
Mali with Law' s Notes. 



V o s s i u s , Bossu, Pere 
Bohours, D r y d e n ' s 
Essays and Prefaces, 
Spence on Pope's 
Odyssey, Trapp' s 
Proelect. Poet. Diony- 
sius Halicarn, Deme- 
of Poetry trius Phalereus, Stradas 
Prolusiones, Patoun's 
Navigation, Gregory's 
Geometry, Bisset on 
Fortification, Simp- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 239 



January 
Third Term 
Four Months 



Remarks 



Third Year 
Seniors May 15 

First Term 
Three Months. 



Second Term, 
Three Months 



January 
Third Term 
Four Months 



Composition begun, 
viz: Cicero pro Milone 

Demosthenes pro Ctesi- 
phon. 

N. B. During the Appli- 
cation of the Rules to 
these famous Orations, 
imitations of them are 
to be attempted on the 
Models of perfect Elo- 
quence 



Epicteti Enchiridion 

Cicero de officiis 

Tusculan Ousest. 

Memorabilia Xenoph. 
Greek 

Patavii Rationar Tempo- 
rum. 

Plato de Legibus 

Grotius de Jure B. & P. 



Afternoons of the 3d 
Term, for Composition 
and Declamation on 
Moral and Physical 
Subjects, Philosophy 
Acts held. 



son' s Conic Sections, 
Maclaurin's and Em- 
erson's Fluxions, Pal- 
ladia by Ware. 
Helsham' s Lectures, 
Gravesande, Cote's 
Hydrostatics, Desagu- 
liers, Muschenbrock, 
Keil' s Introduction, 
Martin' s Philosophy, 
Sir Isaac Newton' s 
Philosophy, Maclau- 
rin's View of Ditto, 
Rohault per Clarke 



Puffendorf by Barbeyrac, 
Cumberland de Leg . 
Selden de Jure, Spirit 
of Laws, Sidney, Har- 
rington, Seneca, 
Hutcheson' s Works, 
Locke on Government, 
Hooker's Polity, Scali- 
ger de Emendatione 
Temporum, Compends 
in Preceptor Le Clerc' s 
Compend of History. 

Gregory's Astronomy, 
Fortescue on Laws, N. 
Bacon' s Discourses, 
My lord Bacon's 
Works, Locke on 
Civic-Davenant, Gee's 
Compend. Ray. Der- 
ham, Spectacle de la 
Nature; Rondoletius, 
Religious Philosopher. 
Holy Bible to be read 
daily from the Begin- 
ning, and now to sup- 
ply the Deficiencies of 
the Whole. 



240 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

To this early publication of the plan, 

by a bare suggestion of which, any Parent may know what Progress his 
son makes, and what is his standing, as well as what Books to provide, 
from Time to Time,^ 

the Provost added the following remarks elucidating it and 
showing its merits ; he must speak for himself, and to abbreviate 
it would mar the force of his statement : 

Life itself being too short to obtain a perfect acquaintance with the 
whole circle of the Sczetices, nothing has ever been proposed by any plan 
of University Education, but to lay such a general foundation in all the 
branches of literature, as may enable youth to perfect themselves in those 
particular parts, to which their business or genius, may afterwards lead 
them. And scarce any thing has more obstructed the advancement of 
sound learning, than a vain imagination, that a few years, spent at college, 
can render youth such absolute Masters of Science, as to absolve them from 
all future study. 

As far as our influence extends, we would wish to propagate a con- 
trary docti'ine ; and tho' we flatter ourselves that, by a due execution of the 
foregoing plan, we shall enrich our country with many Minds that are lib- 
erally accomplished, and send out none that may justly be denominated 
barren or unimproved ; yet we hope that the youth committed to our 
tuition, will neither at college, nor afterwards, rest satisfied with such a 
general knowledge, as is to be acquired from the public lectures and exer- 
cises. We rather trust that those whose taste is once formed for the acqui- 
sition of solid Wisdofn, will think it their duty and most rational satisfac- 
tion, to accomplish themselves still farther, by manly perseverance in 
private study and meditation. 

To direct them in this respect, the last column contains a judicious 
choice of the most excellent writers in the various branches of literature, 
which will be easily understood when once a foundation is laid in the 
books proposed in the plan, under the several lectures. For the books to 
be used as Classics, at the lecture hours, will not be found in this last col- 
umn, which is only meant as a private library, to be consulted occasionally 
in the lectures, for the illustration of any particular part, and to be read 
afterwards, for com pleating the whole. 

The last book in the catalogue is the Holy Bible, without which the 
student's library would be very defective. But tho' it stands last, we do 
not mean that they are to defer reading it to the last, it being part of our 
daily exercise, and recommended from the beginning. We only intimate, 
by this disposition, that, when human Science has done its utmost, and 



Pennsylvania Gazette, 12 Aug. 1756. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 241 

when we have thought the youth worthy of the honors of the Seminary, 
yet still we must recommend them to the Scriptures of God, in order to 
compleat their Wisdom, to regulate their conduct thro' life, and guide them 
to happiness forever. 

In the disposition of the parts of this Scheme, a principal regard has 
been paid to the connexion and subserviency of the Sciences, as well as to 
the gradual openings of young minds. Those parts are placed first, which 
are suited to strengthen the inventive Faculties, and are instriirnental to 
what follows. Those are placed last which require riper judgment, and 
are more immediately connected with the main business of life. 

In the meantime, it is proposed that they shall never drop their 
acquaintance with the classic sages. They are every day called to con- 
verse with some one of the ancients, who, at the same time that he 
charms with all the beauties of language, is generally illustrating that par- 
ticular branch of philosophy or science, to which the other hours of the 
day are devoted. Thus, by continually drawing something from the most 
admired masters of Sentiment and expression, the taste of youth will be 
gradually formed, to just Criticism and masterly Composition. 

For this reason, Compositiott, in the strict Meaning of the term, 
cannot be begun at an earlier period than is proposed in the plan. The 
knowledge of Mathematics is not more necessary, as an introduction to 
natural philosophy, than an acquaintance with the best ancient and modern 
writers, especially the Critics, is to just Composition. 

Whoever would build, must have both the art and materials of 
building ; and therefore Composition, from one's own stock, is justly 
placed after Criticism, which supplies the art, and not before Moral and 
Natural Philosophy, which enriches the understanding, and furnishes the 
Materials or Topics for the Work. 

Thus it is hoped the Student may be led thro' a scale of easy ascent, 
till finally render' d capable of Thinking, Writing and Acting well, which 
is the grand aim of a liberal education. — At the end of every term, there 
is some time allowed for Recreation, or bringing up slower Geniuses. 

Perhaps, after all, some who see this plan, may think three years 
too scanty a period for its execution. We would not be tenacious of our 
opinion ; but, from an attentive consideration of the business proposed 
for each term, we are inclined to think the time will be sufficient for a 
middling genius, with ordinary application. And where both genius and 
application are wanting, we conceive no time will be found sufficient. 
Experience, however, being the best guide in matters of this kind, we 
only propose that a fair trial of three years may be made, before anything 
farther is determined upon a subject of such high concern. 

Such a trial we think due to the present state of our Seminary, as 
well as to the public, and the particular circumstances of these colonies. 



242 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

where very few youth can be detained for a long period at infant unen- 
dowed colleges, where they must wholly maintain themselves at a consid- 
erable expence, and where the genius seems not only to be sooner ripe, 
but where there is also a more immediate demand, and a more easy settle- 
ment to be obtained, in all the ways of genteel employment, for Young 
Men of Parts, than there is in European Countries. 

N. B. The utmost care will be taken for a faithful execution of this 
plan in all its parts. The time for admitting Freshmen in the youngest 
philosophy class is May /j, according to the plan. But those who necessarily 
apply later in the first year will obtain Admission, provided it appears 
upoft examination that they are sufficiently grounded in the parts laid down 
in the platt, previous to the date of such their adiftission ; which facts may 
always be known from inspection, together with the proficiency made by the 
class which they are to join. The Sentiments of Men of Learning will be 
thankfully received for perfecting the whole ; and upon a candid applica- 
tion to any of the professors, they will endeavor to explain and remove any 
difficulties that may occur to any persons concerning it. 

The plan was next published in the American Magazine, of 
which Mr, Smith was Editor, in its last number, October, 1758 ; 
and the year following he included it in the Appendix to his 
Discourses on Several Piiblic Occasions during the War ifi 
America, published in London 1759, with an account of the 
College and Academy, which received a second edition, Lon- 
don, 1762, and which was dedicated to the Proprietaries, Thomas 
Penn and Richard Penn ; and these were repeated in the edition 
of his Works published in Philadelphia in 1803. In the Ameri- 
can Magazine he supplemented what has already been quoted 
from his pen on the Collegiate course, by an account of the 
Academy proper, from which we learn of its conduct and its 
tuition. This article entire will be found in the Appendix, and 
the narrative merits attention. 

In the account of the College and Academy in the edition 
of the Discourses, London, 1759, the foregoing plan is included 
with the addition of a short paragraph inserted in the middle of 
the first section, namely : 

Besides this rostrum, which is in their private school, there is also 
a large stage or oratory erected in the College hall, where the Speakers 
appear on all public occasions, before as many of the inhabitants as 
please to attend. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 243 

And in a footnote, adds, 

A number of the students and scholars performed the masque of 
Alfred by way of Oratorical Exercise, before the Earl of Loudon and the 
Governors of the Southern Colonies, in the beginning of the year 1757, 
with very much and just applause, and on any occasion a sufficient number 
of speakers may be selected to perform any good piece of this kind. 

To this he further adds in the edition of his Works, Phila- 
delphia, 1803 : 

The choice of this performance was owing to the great similarity of 
circumstances in the distress in England under the Danish invasion, and 
that of the colonies at this time under the ravages and incursions of the 
Indians. The whole was applied in an occasional prologue and epilogue, 
and at any time a sufficient number of Speakers may be found to perform 
any piece of the kind, in a manner that would not be disagreeable to 
persons of the best taste and judgment. 

Selections from this Masque, " originally written by the 
pious and philosophic Mr Thompson in conjunction with Mr 
Mallet, and in the year 175 i, altered and greatly improved by 
the latter," which had " been several Times represented during 
the Christmas Holidays, in one of the Apartments of the Col- 
lege," were given a prominent place in numbers of the Pennsyl- 
vania Gazette in January and February, 1757, where we learn 
that young Jacob Duche took the part of Alfred, and Samuel 
Chew that of the Danish King, In this cotemporary account 
Mr Smith prefaces it with the Statement that 

ever since the first Foundation of the College and Academy in this city, 
the Improvement of the Youth in Oratory and correct Speaking, has 
always been considered as an essential Branch of their Education. And 
though it be a Branch too much neglected in other Institutions of a like 
kind, yet its importance is manifest, and nothing could have been better 
devised in the Circumstances of this Province, where the true Pronuncia- 
tion of the English Language might soon be lost without proper care to 
preserve it in the rising Generation, as we are a Mixture of People from 
almost all corners of the world ; speaking a variety of Languages and 
Dialects. 



244 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XXXIV. 

We have just seen in Provost Smith's words that from the 
outset of the Academy direct attention had been paid to training 
the boys in the correct use of their own language. The origi- 
nators had desired the teaching of the Enghsh tongue gram- 
matically, and as a language to be second to no other of the 
objects of the school. While the tendency of the day was to 
elevate the study of the Classics and the Knowledge of the 
Ancients beyond any attention that the pursuit of the Mother 
language could possibly attract, it was Franklin who strove for 
its proper maintenance in the Academy ; he who had studied 
his native language in the best English classics knew its wealth 
and capacity, and how richly it would reward any who studied 
it diligently ; what more important, he argued, than the 
thorough knowledge of one's own language to those who 
designed following in their native country the various pursuits 
of livelihood. His own experience warranted his belief that in 
the English tongue was found the best vehicles for conveying 
the thoughts of man to his fellows, as it was his self training in 
its uses that brought to him that unexcelled employment of its 
words and terms which gave to all his writings that surprising 
force, indeed eloquence, which commanded the attention of his 
cotemporaries and affords to us their successors such delightful 
perusal. 

When in June, 1789, he wrote his Observations, relative to 
the intentions of the original fonnders of the Academy in Philadel- 
phia, he looked backward those forty years and recited how 
their early designs were to make the English School of 
greater prominence in this general plan. His paper, well 
worthy of a perusal in its fullness, is a history of this branch of 
the institution which is narrated in language which cannot now 
be equaled, and is referred to at this point, to show how atten- 
tion was early sought to train the pupils in a correct use of 
their Mother tongue in reading, in declamation, and by various 
public exercises. When Mr Smith assumed his duties in May^ 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 245 

1754, he found the existence of this practical system with 
■evidences of its good results, and with his own knowledge of 
oratory he gladly carried on these plans, and gave to them his 
own experience and culture ; but inasmuch as the influences 
already prevailed which placed the English school in a secondary 
position, he with his greater taste for the Ancient Classics but 
•confirmed and established more effectually these influences 
which were in later years the subject of Franklin's deprecations ; 
and there no longer remained those public exhibitions of display 
in proficiency in English which the pupils under Mr Dove 
liad attained to. 

These tendencies Franklin termed partialities. But let us 
hear his own statement : ^ 

The first instance of partiality, in favor of the Latin part of the 
institution, was in giving the title of Rector to the Latin master, and no 
title to the English one. But the most striking instance * * * was, 
when the votes of a majority carried it to give twice as much salary to the 
Latin Master as to the English, and yet require twice as much duty from 
the English master as from the Latin, viz : ^200 to the Latin master to 
teach twenty boys ; ^100 to the English master to teach forty. However, 
the trustees who voted these salaries being themselves by far the great- 
est subscribers, though not the most numerous, it was thought they 
had a kind of right to predominate in money matters ; and those who had 
wished an equal regard might have been shown to both schools, sub- 
mitted, though not without regret, and at times some little complaining, 
which, with their not being able in some months to find a proper person 
for English master, who would undertake the office for so low a salary, 
induced the Trustees at length, viz : in July, 1750, to offer £^0 more. 
Another instance of the partiality above mentioned, was in the March 
preceding, when ^100. sterling was voted to buy Latin and Greek books, 
maps, drafts, and instruments for the use of the Academy, and nothing 
for the English books. * * * 

The Trustees were most of them the principal gentlemen of the pro- 
vince. Children taught in other schools had no reason to expect such 
powerful patronage. The subscribers had placed such entire confidence 
in them as to leave themselves no power of changing them, if their con- 
duct of the plan should be disapproved ; and so, in hopes of the best, all 
these partialities were submitted to. 

Near a year passed before a proper person was found to take charge 

^ Sparks, ii. 141. 



246 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

of the English school. At length Mr Dove, who had been for many years 
master of a school in England, and had come hither with an apparatus for 
giving lectures in experimental philosophy, was prevailed with by me 
after his lectures were finished, to accept that employment for the 
salary offered, though he thought it too scanty. He had a good voice, 
read perfectly well, with proper accent and just pronunciation, and 
his method of communicating habits of the same kind to his pupils was 
this : When he gave a lesson to one of them, he always first read it to 
him aloud, with all the different modulations of voice, that the subject and 
sense required . These the scholars, in studying and repeating the lessons, 
naturally endeavored to imitate ; and it was really surprising to see how 
soon they caught his manner, which convinced me and others who fre- 
quently attended his school, that, though bad tones and manners in read- 
ing are, when once acquired, rarely, with difficulty, if ever cured, yet, 
when none have been already formed, good ones are as easily learned as 
bad. In a few weeks after opening his school, the trustees were invited to 
hear the scholars read and recite. The parents and relations of the boys 
also attended. The performances were surprisingly good, and of course 
were admired and applauded ; and the English school thereby acquired 
such reputation, that the number of Mr Dove's scholars soon amounted to 
upwards of ninety, which number did not diminish as long as he continued 
master, viz : upwards of two years ; but, he finding the salary insufficient, 
and having set up a school for girls in his own house to supply the defi- 
ciency, and quitting the boys' school somewhat before the hour to attend 
the girls, the trustees disapproved of his so doing, and he quitted their 
employment, continued his girls' school, and opened one for boys on his 
own account. The trustees provided another English master ; but though 
a good man, yet not possessing the talents of an English schoolmaster in 
the same perfection with Mr Dove, the school diminished daily, and soon 
was found to have but about forty scholars left. The performances of the 
boys, in reading and speaking, were no longer so brilliant ; the trustees of 
course had not the same pleasure in hearing them, and the monthly visita- 
tions, which had so long afforded a delightful entertainment to large 
audiences, became less and less attended, and at length discontinued ; 
and the English school has never since recovered its original reputation. 
Thus by our injudiciously starving the English part of our scheme of 
education, we only saved fifty pounds a year, which was required as an 
additional salary to our acknowledged excellent English master, which 
would have equalled his encouragement to that of the Latin master ; I say, 
by saving the ^50. we lost fifty scholars, which would have been ^200. a 
year, and defeated, besides, one great end of the institution. 

The Master of the Enghsh School, Mr. Klnnersley, Mr. 
Dove's successor, we have seen was in July 1755 made Pro- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 247 

fessor of the English Tongue and Oratory; but his want of suc- 
cess in training the lads discouraged him from inciting public 
exhibitions of their progress ; and as Franklin ere long began 
his absences from Pennsylvania, the influence of the "Latinists," 
as he calls them, may have chilled any encouragement he sought 
in' the faculty or the Trustees for the fuller development of his 
school. On Franklin's return home from his first mission, in 
November, 1762, he found this change in the English School, 
and at the meeting of 8 February 1763, we find this Minute, 
doubtless at his instance : 

The state of the English School was taken into consideration and it 
was observed that Mr Kinnersley' s Time was entirely taken up in teaching 
little Boys the Elements of the English Language, ^ and that speaking and 
rehearsing in Publick were totally disused to the great Prejudice of the 
other Scholars and Students and contrary to the original Design of the 
Trustees in the forming of that school, and as this was a matter of great 
Importance it was particularly recommended to be fully considered by the 
Trustees at the next meeting. 

But consideration of this was not reached until the meeting 
of 12 April, at which only Messrs. Peters, Coleman, Duche, 
White, Stedman and Redman were present, when the following 
Minute appears : 

The State of the English School was again taken into Consideration, 
and it was the opinion of the Trustees that the original Design should be 
prosecuted of teaching the Scholars of that and the other Schools the 
Elegance of the English Language, and giving them a proper pronunciation, 
and that the old Method of hearing them read and repeat in public should 
be again used. And Mr. Franklin, Mr Coleman, Mr. Coxe, and Mr 
Duche were appointed a Committee to confer with Mr Kinnersley how this 
might best be done as well as what assistance would be necessary to give 
Mr Kinnersley to enable him to attend this necessary service, which was 
indeed the proper Business of his Professorship, 

Franklin's zeal and influence were felt, though his public 
duties forbad his regular attendance at the Trustees' meetings. 
In April he left for Virginia where he passed three or four weeks 
returning to Philadelphia in time to attend the meeting of the 



^ In quoting this Minute in his Observations Franklin here inserts in parenthesis 
" (this is what it dwindled into, a school similar to those kept by old women, who teach 
children their letters)" Sparks, ii. 145. 



248 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Trustees of 27 May, 1763,. made notable by the adoption of the 
addresses to the King and to Lord Bute to be transmitted to 
the Provost then in England for due presentation as expressive 
of the thanks of the Trustees to "his Majesty for his Protec- 
tion, Countenance and Bounty to our Institution " and " to 
Lord Bute in acknowledgment of his goodness to us ; " and 
early in June we find him starting on a trip to the Eastern States 
on postofifice service, from which he did not return until early in 
November. This May meeting was the last he attended of the 
Trustees that year; the coming winter found him engrossed 
in many concerns; the year 1764 was full of political conten- 
tions, and in October he was appointed agent for the Province 
in England, and in November set sail from Philadelphia on his 
second mission.^ But before he sailed he signed on the Minute 
Book the fundamental Resolve or Declaration made by the 
Trustees in consequence of the letter brought them by the 
Provost on his return from England, jointly written them 9 April, 
1764 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas and Richard 
Penn and Dr. Samuel Chandler, and entered on the Minutes of 
14 June 1764, and which will come before us in the due progress 
of this narrative. At the meeting of 13 June, only Messrs. 
Peters, Coleman, Redman, Stedman, and Duche present, the 
following minute appears : 

Some of the parents of the children in the Academy having complained 
that their children were not taught to speak and read in publick and having 
requested that this useful part of Education might be more attended to, Mr 
Kinnersley was called in and desired to give an account of what was done 
in this Branch of his Duty, and he declared that this was well taught not 
only in the English School which was more immediately under his care, 
but in the Philosophy classes regularly every Monday afternoon, and as 
often at other times as his other Business would permit. And it not appear- 
ing to the Trustees that any more could at present be done without 
partiality & great inconvenience and that this was all that was ever proposed 
to be done they did not incline to make any alteration, or to lay any 
Burthen upon Mr Kinnersley. 



'and " reached London on the evening of lo December and went immediately 
to his old lodgings" Sparks, vii. 282. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 249 

Upon this, Franklin says in his Observations : * 

That the English School had not for some years preceding been visited 
by the Trustees. If it had, they would have known the state of it without 
making this inquiry of the Master. They might have judged, whether the 
children more immediately under his care were in truth well taught, with- 
out taking his word for it, as it appears they did. But it seems he had a 
merit, which when he pleaded it, effectually excused him. He spent his 
time when out of the English School in instructing the philosophy classes, 
who were of the Latin part of the institution. Therefore they did not 
think proper to lay any further burthen upon him. * * * Certainly 
the method that had been used might be again used, if the Trustees 
had thought fit to order Mr. Kinnersley to attend his own school, and not 
spend his time in the philosophy classes, where his duty did not require 
his attendance. What the apprehended partiality was, which the Minute 
mentions, does not appear, and cannot easily be imagined ; and the great 
inconvenience of obhging him to attend his own school could only be 
depriving the Latinists of his assistance, to which they had no right. * * * 
The parents, indeed, despairing of any reformation, withdrew their chil- 
dren, and placed them in private schools, of which several now appeared 
in the city, professing to teach what had been promised to be taught in the 
Academy ; and they have since flourished and increased by the scholars 
the Academy might have had, if it had performed its engagements. Yet 
the public was not satisfied ; and, we find five years after, the English 
school appearing again, after five years' silence, haunting the Trustees like 
an evil conscience, and reminding them of their failure in duty. 

The minutes of 19 and 26 January, 1768, revive the sub- 
ject, " it having been remarked, that the schools suffer in the 
public esteem by the discontinuance of public speaking," but 
only temporizing measures were sought, by 

agreeing to give Mr. Jon. Easton and Mr, Thomas Hall, at the rate of 
twenty-five pounds per annum each, for assisting Mr. Kinnersley in the 
English school, and taking care of the same when he shall be employed in 
teaching the students, in the philosophy classes and grammar school, the 
art of public speaking. [But] Mr. Easton and Mr. Hall are to be paid out 
of a fund to be raised by some public performance for the benefit of the 
College. 

Or as Franklin says : 

Care was however taken by the Trustees not to be at any expense for this 

* Sparks, ii. 148. These Observations Relative to the Intentions of the Origi- 
nal Founders of the Academy in Philadelphia, June, 1789 are not included by Mr. 
Bigelow in his Complete Works of Benjamin Franklin. 



250 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

assistance to Mr. Kinnersley ; for Hall and Easton were only to be paid 
out of the uncertain fund of money to be raised by some public perform- 
ance for the benefit of the College. 

The year following the Trustees " considered whether the 
English school is to be longer continued," and at a special meet- 
ing on 23 July, Messrs, Hamilton, Willing, Shippen, Coxe, Law- 
rence, Redman, Peters and Inglis, being present, were 

unanimously of the opinion that as the said School is far from defraying 
the expense at which they now support it, and not thinking that they ought 
to lay out any great part of the Funds entrusted to them on this Branch of 
Education which can so easily be procured at other schools in this city [it 
was voted] that from and after the 17th of October next Mr. Kinnersley's 
present Salary do cease, and that from that Time, the said School, if he 
shall be inclined to keep it, shall be on the following terms 

which in brief were that he could continue the school on his 
own financial responsibility he 

to have the house he lives in rent free, in consideration of his giving 
two afternoons in the week as heretofore for the instruction of the students 
belonging to the College in public speaking. 

And the Trustees expressed the 

hope this Regulation may be agreeable to Mr. Kinnersley as it proceeds 
entirely from the Reasons set forth above, and not from any abatement of 
that esteem which they have always retained for Him during the whole 
course of his services in College. 

But it soon occurred to them that this was involving the exist- 
ence of a branch of the institution the continuance and main- 
tenance of which they stood obligated to their subscribers and 
the community, for at the meeting following, on i August 1769 
fifteen of the Trustees attending, it was recorded. 

The minute of last meeting relative to the English school was read, 
and after mature deliberation and reconsidering the same, it was voted to 
stand as it is, provided it should not be found any way repugnant to the 
first charter granted by the Assembly, a copy of which was ordered to be 
procured out of the rolls office. 

The repugnance of the charter to this proceeding served 
to keep alive in its feebleness the English school ; but the knot 
was cut by Mr. Kinnersley's resignation in October 1772, who 
had attained his three score years but in impaired health, which 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 251 

led him to seek a warmer climate. No strenuous effort was 
employed to supply his place, partly from lack of interest and 
partly from placing the new Salary on a footing which would 
not attract any experienced teacher. But the Trustees at their 
meeting on 2 February following, record this minute : 

The College suffers greatly since Mr. Kinnersley left it, for want of 
a person to teach public speaking, so that the present classes have not 
those opportunities of learning to declaim and speak which have been of 
so much use to their predecessors, and have contributed greatly to raise 
the credit of the Institution. 

On this Franklin briefly remarks in his Observations of 
1789: 

Here is another confession that the Latinists were unequal to the task 
of teaching English eloquence, though on occasion the contrary is still 
asserted, [and in closing he says] I am the only one of the original trustees 
now living, and I am just stepping into the grave myself. I am afraid that 
some part of the blame incurred by the Trustees may be laid on me, for 
having too easily submitted to the deviations from the constitution, and not 
opposing them with sufficient zeal and earnestness ; though indeed my 
absence in foreign countries at different times for near thirty years, tended 
much to weaken my influence. * * * i seem here to be surrounded 
by the ghosts of my dear departed friends, beckoning and urging me to use 
the only tongue now left us, in demanding that justice to our grandchildren,, 
that to our children has been denied. 



252 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XXXV. 

However, we have somewhat anticipated the course of 
events, in this review of the English tuition of the College and 
Academy, made necessary here in order to preserve the con- 
tinuity of Franklin's argument ; and we recur with satisfaction 
to the Provost's plan or scheme of education, broad and liberal 
in its stretch, which claims in our thoughts a preeminence over 
any cotemporary curriculum in this country and perhaps in 
England. He divided it in two great sections, the Latin and 
Greek Schools, and the Philosophy Schools ; the first embrac- 
ing all tuition in those ancient Languages in their structure and 
their uses, and the other building on this foundation and making 
use of the necessary vehicle of language to pursue the study of 
the reason of things employing the term Philosophy in its 
generic term — the Love of Wisdom, embracing both Natural 
and Moral Philosophy. At the stage when the word Philosophy 
was here applied to district schools its use was more general 
than it has now come to be used in this generation, and modern 
curricula use it to denote narrower spheres. Dr. Johnson's new 
Dictionary had now appeared, and Peter Collinson ^ the good 
friend and agent in London of the College and Academy had 
in October 1755 sent out to its Library an early copy of this 
great lexicographical work, then just published ; and we find in 
it Johnson's definition of Philosophy as " the course of sciences 
read in the schools," and for definition of the word sciences he 
uses the pithy quotation from Hooker, " any art or species of 
Knowledge." This was much broader in its scope than anything 
yet attempted in our Colleges, and its conception was bold as well 
as novel ; but in their confidence in the learning and in the in- 
genuity of the young Provost, the Trustees accepted the pro- 
gramme for the time, soliciting however the opinion of the 
learned upon it. But let the Provost himself explain his em- 



1 Mr Collinson's Invoice shows : 

1755. I May, Blair's Chronology 49/ 

iS July, Martin's Introduction to English Tongue 2/ 
16 Sept, Johnson's Dictionary 2 vols 4-10/ 

V. Treasurer's Accounts. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 253 

ployment of the term Philosophy as applied to the highest 
school, as we find it in his Discourse delivered at the first com- 
mencement, 17 May, 1757.^ 

A person who knows himself endued with reason and under- 
standing, will not be content to take his knowledge entirely at sec- 
ond hand, on subjects so important as the nature and fitness of things, 
and the Summum Bonum of man ; he will not care to rely wholly 
on a Historical Knowledge, founded on the Experience and Testimony 
of others ; however much his labors may be shortened thereby. He 
will think it his duty to examine for himself, and to acquire a Moral 
and Physical knowledge ; founded on his own Experience and Observa- 
tion. This is what we call Philosophy in general ; comprehending in it 
the knowledge of all things Human and Divine, so far as they can be made 
the objects of our present inquiries. Now the genuine branches of this 
Philosophy or great system of Practical Wisdom, together with the neces- 
sary instrumental parts thereof, may be included under the following 
general heads ; it appearing to me that the nature of things admits of no 
more: 

1. Languages, which have been already mentioned rather as an 
Instrument or Means of Science, than a Branch thereof 

2. Logic and Metaphysics, or the Science of the Human Mind ; 
unfolding its powers and directing its operations and reasonings . 

3. Natural Philosophy, Mathematics, and the rest of her beautiful 
train of subservient arts, investigating the Physical properties of Body ; 
explaining the various phenomena of Nature ; and teaching us to render 
her subservient to the ease and ornament of Life. 

4. Moral Philosophy ; applying all the above to the business and 
bosoms of men ; deducing the laws of our conduct from our situation in life 
and connexions with the Beings around us ; settling the whole (Economy 
of the Will and Affections ; establishing the predominancy of Reason and 
Conscience, and guiding us to Happiness thro' the practice of Virtue. 

5. Rhetoric, or the art of masterly Composition ; just Elocution, 
and sound Criticism : teaching us how to elevate our wisdom in the most 
amiable and inviting garb ; how to give life and spirit to our Ideas, and 
make our knowledge of the greatest benefit to ourselves and others ; and 
lastly, how to enjoy those pure intellectual pleasures, resulting from a just 
taste for polite letters, and a true relish for the sprightly Wit, the rich 
Fancy, the noble Pathos, and the marvelous Sublime, shining forth in the 
works of the most celebrated Poets, Philosophers, Historians and Orators, 
with beauties ever pleasing, ever new. * * * 

Thus I have given a sketch of the Capital branches of Human 



' Discourses, ed 1759, p 142. 



254 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Science ; and all of them are professed and taught in this Institution. 
But there is yet one Science behind necessary to com pleat all the rest, and 
without which they will be found at best but very defective and unsatis- 
factory. 'Tis the Science of Christianity and the Great Mystery of Godli- 
ness ; that Subhmest Philosophy, into which even the angels themselves 
desire to be further initiated. 

A new departure in higher education Mr. Smith felt was 
needed in the colonies. Up to this time, the aim of our earlier 
colleges had been primarily to prepare young men for the 
ministry. The conditions attendant upon the organization and 
the circumstances surrounding its progress forbad this to the 
new Philadelphia institution, however much Mr. Smith may 
have thought of it, of which however their appears no evidence,^ 
While tutoring in Long Island he must have had knowledge of 
the curriculum at Yale, and he may have visited New Haven ; 
his acquaintance with it^* distinguished alumnus Samuel Johnson 
possibly ensured this. The chief thought here, as it was in like 
manner at Harvard College, seemed to be to fit the pupils to 
assume the clerical profession ; the President and Fellows, or 
Tutors, for it was not until 1755, that the term Professor was 
known at Yale and that was upon the appointment of Dr. 
Daggett as Professor of Theology, were mostly clergymen, 
whose professional sympathies would lead to such a training ; 
and while the curriculum might of itself not bear such bias, those 
who administered it would perhaps insensibly give to it a theologi- 
cal discipline. But it must, at the same time, be admitted that Yale 
"was a seminary which was intended for the training of min- 
isters as much as for any purpose ; " * and it was on this ground 
that the head of the College, Rev. Timoth}' Cutler, " was ex- 
cused from all further service as Rector," when he led off in 

3 It is doubtless true, that the studies of the English universities, from which 
the American Colleges are historically derived, were originally arranged with special 
reference to the clerical profession, and that to this day some of the peculiarities thus 
induced have not been entirely outgrown. The first American Colleges were also 
primarily founded as training schools for the clergy, but as the other professions came 
to require a liberal culture, this special reference to the clerical profession was laid 
aside. President Porter, ^WifrzV^w Colleges and the American Public, \). <)t,. And 
President Clap of Yale said in 1754 " the original End and design of Colleges was to 
instruct and train up persons for the work of the ministry * * * The great 
design of founding this school was to educate ministers in our own way." 

* President Woolsey in Kingsley's Yale College i. 53-54. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 255 

the great Episcopal movement in 1722, which involved also other 
sons of Yale, including Dr. Johnson, the Trustees voting this 
" in faithfulness to the trust reposed in them ;" and this action 
was recognized by its subjects as legitimate and quite proper, 
and so far from hard feelings being engendered by it those who 
left and those who staid still remained friends, and the former 
honored their Alma Mater equally with the latter. As the 
Philadelphia institution began at a day and in a province 
where clerical influence was not foremost in the control 
and where church and state were absolutely separate 
from tuition, the way was open for Provost Smith, who 
had not yet attained his thirtieth year, to propound a scheme 
free of early colonial traditions and build anew a richer and a 
broader curriculum, and offer it to parents for the higher educa- 
tion of their sons. Had he begun his College work on the Yale 
plan, he would have been without originality and its influence 
would have been purely local ; a new departure was called for, 
and his was the genius and courage to attempt it. In the 
success of this scheme, Provost Smith found his highest gratifi- 
cation ; and as his pupils took their places in the world 
thoroughly trained mentally for their various calls, it is quite 
easy to recognize how the ancient languages gradually took pre- 
cedence of the English, not it may be to the exclusion of the 
latter, but sufi(iciently to the extent that the pupil's mind appre- 
hended less the value and importance of his own tongue than 
he might have done had the views of the Founders prevailed. 
But so far as his influence may have extended in this, the 
■educated community generally was equally with him in greater 
sympathy with the pursuit of the classics of the ancients than 
with those of the mother country. 

The establishment of the first Professorship in Yale, in 
1755, that of Theology, appeared to remove this from a general 
to a special study, and marked a new era in the spirit of the 
generally accepted curriculum.^ And the same thought of making 

^Professor Fisher, Yak College, ii. 17. "Both Harvard and Yale wer^ 
modeled in general after the English Colleges ; Yale having before it, also, the exam" 
pie of its older sister. It is only necessary to look at the course of study at Harvard 
in the early days to see that theology was a prominent and even a principal study. 
Ibid., ii. 15. 



256 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

a new departure prevailed alike with Dr. Johnson in New York 
and Mr. Smith in Philadelphia, though with the former there 
prevailed in his Advertisement of June, 1754, elsewhere referred 
to, some sympathy with the old course of his Alma Mater, when 
he said : 

The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach and 
engage the children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve 
him, in all Sobriety, Godliness, and Righteonsness of Life, with a perfect 
Heart and a willing Mind. 

But let us see what Yale's curriculum was at this period, 
and President Woolsey's words can give the story :^ 

The Latin law of 1748, of which also an English original, under date 
of 1745, is extant in manuscript, prescribes that in the first year the students 
shall principally study the tongues and logic, and shall in some measure 
pursue the study of the tongues the next two years. In the second year 
they shall recite rhetoric, geometry, and geography. In the third year, 
natural philosophy, astronomy, and other parts of mathematics. In the 
fourth year metaphysics and ethics. Every Saturday shall especially be 
devoted to the study of divinity, and the classes, through the whole of 
their college life, shall recite the Westminster Confession of Faith, received 
and approved by the churches of this colony, Wollebius's or Ames's 
Medulla, or any other system of divinity by direction of the President and 
Fellows. And on Friday, each student in his order, about six at a time, 
shall declaim in the hall, in Latin, Greek or Hebrew, and in no other 
language without special leave; and the two Senior Classes shall dispute 
twice a week. 

In Dr. Johnson's pupilage,'' 

common arithmetic and a little surveying were all the mathematics studied; 
but he, as a tutor, introduced more mathematics for the understanding of 
the Newtonian system. Geometry was studied not long afterward. In a 
letter of Jonathan Edwards to his father (written probably at the beginning 
of his Senior year, 1720), he says that the Rector advised him to get 
Alsted's Geometry and Gassendus's Astronomy for the purposes of study. 
At a later period, I know not when, except that it is likely to have been 
under President Clap, the mathematics of Ward (President of Trinity 
College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Exeter) were introduced.^ 

Let us advance a decade and note yet further Enlargement 



^ Yale College, ii. 497. ''Ibid.,ii. 499. ^Ibid., ii. 497. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 257 

of the studies, but not yet up to the point set by the Philadel- 
phia Provost : 

President Clap, in his history, written in 1766, gives an account of 
the studies, which shows that, during his term of office considerable pro- 
gress had been made in the mathematical branches. In the first year, he 
says, they learn Hebrew, and principally pursue the study of the languages, 
and make a beginning in logic and some parts of mathematics. In the 
second year they study the languages, but principally recite logic, rhetoric, 
oratory, geography, and natural philosophy, and some of them make good 
progress in trigonometry and algebra. In the third year they still pursue 
the study of natural philosophy and most branches of mathematics. Many 
of them well understand surveying, navigation, and the calculation of 
eclipses; and some of them are considerable proficients in conic sections 
and fluxions. In the fourth year they principally study and recite meta- 
physics and divinity. The two upper classes exercise their powers in dis- 
puting every Monday in the syllogistic form and every Tuesday in the 
forensic . 

And proceeding a few years later we note yet further 
advances : 

There is, in President Stiles' Diary for November 9, 1779, a list of 
"books recited in the several classes at [his] accession to the presidency," 
which we will here insert ■? 

Freshman Class. — Virgilius, Ciceronis Orationes, Graec. Test, 
Ward's Arithmetic. 

Sophimore (sic) Class. — Graecum Testament., Horatius, Lowth's 
English Grammar, Watts' Logic, Guthrie's Geography, Hammond's Alge- 
bra, Holmer's Rhetorick, Ward's Geometry, Vincent's Catechism [Satur- 
day], Ward's Mathematics. 

Junior Class. — Ward's Trigonometry, Atkinson and Wilson ditto, 
Graec. Test., Cicero de Oratore, Martin's Philosophic Grammar and Phi- 
losophy, 3 vols., Vincent, [Saturday]. 

Senior Class. — Locke, Human Understanding, Wollaston, Relig. of 
Nature Delineated, and for [Saturday], Wollebius, Amesii Medulla, 
Graec. Test, (or Edwards on the Will, sometime discontinued). President 
Clap's Ethics. 

President Woolsey further tells us : ^^ 

For the classical tongues the examinations embraced at first, and for 
many years, a part of Virgil, a part of Cicero's select orations, and in 
Greek the four Evangelists. The course in College went very little further 



^ Yale College, ii. 498. ^^ Ibid., ii. 500. 



258 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

than to complete these Latin authors and the New Testament. I do not 
think that even Homer was studied except by the candidates for the Berke- 
lian scholarship, until the earliest years of the present century, when the 
late Professor Kingsley and Professor Moses Stuart, being tutors, used it in 
their classes. * * * * Latin, at the first, was both spoken and 
written with ease, and the daily practice in disputation and even in con- 
versation was such that the students would put to shame in this respect 
those of the present day. But I fear that correctness of style was not 
reached, much less was elegance. 

Even Mr. Smith's " Latin and Greek Schools " were many- 
years in advance of all this ; but when to these his Philosophy- 
Schools were added we find the College and Academy of Phila- 
delphia a half century in the advance of imparting a thoroughly- 
liberal education to the increasing American generations. 

As Yale grew out of Harvard, it followed that the curriculum 
was on the same pattern as the latter. New England did not 
require another College, but church government and alleged 
differences in orthodoxy were the reasons for the former's exist- 
ence as early as 1647 ;" t)ut a decade after the origin of Har- 
vard, the people of New Haven " undertook the enterprise of 
establishing a College in that colony but postponed it in deference 
to the interests of Cambridge." However in 1700 the matter 
was consummated, and Abraham Pierson, a graduate of Har- 
vard of 1668, became the first Rector of the Saybrook Academy 
which in a few years, when removed to New Haven, was entitled 
Yale College in honor of Governor Yale, its illustrious bene- 
factor. 

Mr. Palfrey, writing of Harvard College, tells us : 

The course of study, adopted from the contemporaneous practice of 
the English Universities, consisted of Latin and Greek (in which some 
proficiency was required for admission) ; of logic, arithmetic, geometry, 
and physics ; and of Hebrew, Chaldee Syriac, and Divinity, — the forming 
of a learned ministry being a main object of the institution. [Under the 
Rev, Henry Dunster, the second president], the College soon acquired so 
high a reputation, that in several instances youth of opulent families in the 
parent country were sent over to receive their education in New England. ^^ 



" Duyckinck, i. 85. 

12 Palfrey's History of New England, ii. 48, 49. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 259 

||But this may doubtless have been largely owing to the religious tests of 
the English Universities.] 

During Pierson's pupilage at Harvard, President Quincy 
tells us •}^ 

To the general student, and such as were not destined to the work of 
the ministry, the exercises of the College must have been irksome, and, in 
their estimation, unprofitable. The reading every morning a portion of 
the Old Testament out of Hebrew into Greek, and every afternoon a por- 
tion of the New Testament out of English into Greek, however it might 
improve their knowledge of those languages respectively, could not greatly 
accelerate or enlarge their acquaintance with Scripture, or tend vividly to 
excite their piety. The exposition, required by the laws of the College to 
be made by the President, of the chapters read at the morning and evening 
services, although greatly lauded for its utility, and made the repeated 
subject of inquiry by active members of the Board of Overseers, seems 
not to have been of any material efficiency in point of instruction. * * * 
"To speak true Latin, both in prose and verse," was made an essential 
requisite for admission. Among the laws and liberties of the College was 
the following : " The scholars shall never use their mother tongue, except 
that, in public exercises of oratory or such like, they be called to make 
them in English. * * * Scholares vernacula lingua, intra Collegii 
limites nullo pretextu intentur." 

The flavor of this training Rector Pierson must have main- 
tained during the few years of his life spared to the Connecticut 
College. The administration of President Holyoke, at Harvard, 
beginning in 1737,^* 

was distinguished by a series of persevering and well directed endeavors 
to elevate the standard of harmony in Harvard College. * * * But 
the customs and rules of the College tardily yielded to the influences of the 
period ; and it was not until after the middle of the eighteenth century, 
that effectual improvements were introduced. * * •«• The dissatisfac- 
tion of the Board of Overseers with the state of elocution among the 
undergraduates, and with the standard of classical attainments in the Col- 
lege, was the origin of the present literary exhibitions, which were at first 
only semi-annual. In October, 1754, a committee was raised in that 
board "to project some new method to promote oratory." ■«■ * « The 
same Committee ^^ had reported in April, 1755, that the fourth part of the 
yearly income of the Hollis donation, and the whole of the yearly income 



^^ History of Harvard University. Quincy, i. 19^ 
i*Quincy, ii. 123. ^^ ibid., ii. 125. 



26o History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

of other splendid donations, should be applied to encourage the study of 
the languages, by equally dividing the amount between any three of the 
Junior Sophister class, two of whom should appear most expert in the 
Latin and the Greek, and the third in the Hebrew language ; and the other 
incomes of Mr. Hollis to be divided equally between nine other Junior 
Sophisters, who should most excel in the knowledge of said languages, the 
said scholars to be all of good morals. * * * By other action the 
Corporation * * * voted that the exercises of the Freshmen and 
Sophomores, with their respective Tutors, on Friday morning (except 
when they declaim) " be to read some celebrated orations, speeches, or 
dialogues in Latin or English, whereby they may be directed and assisted 
in their elocution or pronunciation ; that the Tutors attend the declama- 
tions in the Chapel on Friday morning, and that once a month the two 
senior classes have their disputations in English, in the forensic manner, 
without being confined to syllogisms ; that the number of opponents and 
respondents be equal and that they speak alternately ; the questions to be 
given out by the Tutors at least a fortnight beforehand. " [But President 
Ouincy adds] notwithstanding the unanimity with which these principles 
were adopted, it was found difficult to introduce a practice so little in 
unison with the private recitations, syllogistic forms, and solemn exercises 
of ancient times. '^ 

It was not however until President Willard's administration, 
namely in 1787 after the War of the Revolution, that we trace 
some significant changes in the books of instruction, recreating 
the curriculum, but not up to the standard of that of Philadel- 
phia of 1756 : 

Horace, "Sallust, Cicero de Oratore, Homer, and Xenophon were substi- 
uted for Virgil, Cicero's orations, Ccesar, and the Greek Testament. The num- 
ber of exercises was increased, and the instructors were enjoined to ascertain 
that they were learned by the whole class. These classics formed the prin- 
cipal studies of the first three College years. The Freshmen were instructed, 
also, in rhetoric, the art of speaking, and arithmetic ; the Sophomores in 
algebra, and other branches of mathematics ; the Juniors in Livy, Dod- 
dridge's Lectures, and, once a week, the Greek Testament ; the Seniors in 
logic, metaphysics, and ethics. The Freshmen and Sophomores were 
required to study Hebrew, or French, as a substitute. Through the College 
course all the classes were instructed in declamation, chronology and 
history. In 1788 Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric was introduced as a text 
book. 

iSQuincy, ii. 127. i' Ibid., ii. 279. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 261 

But within fifteen years from this time, Harvard had still 
further advanced her standard : ^^ 

In 1803, the former conditions of admission were repealed, and a 
strict examination in Dalzel's Collectanea Graeca Minora, the Greek Tes- 
tament, Virgil, Sallust, and Cicero's Select Orations ; a thorough acquaint- 
ance with the Greek and Latin grammars, including prosody ; also, an 
ability to translate those languages correctly, and a knowledge of geography 
and arithmetic to the rule of three, was substituted. 

Of the curriculum at William and Mary College, Virginia, 
at the period of the publication of Provost Smith's Plan, we have 
no certain knowledge. The visitations of fire to its buildings 
had caused the destruction of most of its valuable records. The 
origin of this venerable institution was even more decidedly of a 
theological intention than Harvard or Yale, and was 

to the end that the church of Virginia may be furnished with a seminary 
of ministers of the Gospel, and that the youth may be piously educated in 
good letters and manners, and that the Christian faith may be propagated 
amongst the Western Indians to the glory of Almighty God. 

The Rev. James Blair, afterwards Commissary of the Bishop of 
London in Virginia, was sent to England by the Colonial Assem- 
bly in 1 69 1 to solicit a charter from the Crown, which was 
granted on 8 February, 1693, William and Mary giving out of 
the quit rents two thousand pounds towards the building. 
When he was charged to convey to Seymour, the Attorney 
General, the royal commands to issue the charter, Seymour 
remonstrated against this liberality, upon the ground that the 
nation was engaged in an expensive war ; that the money was 
wanted for better purposes, and that he did not see the slightest 
occasion for a College in Virginia. Mr Blair begged the Attorney 
would consider " that its intention was to educate and qualify 
young men to be ministers of the gospel, much wanted there ; 
that the people of Virginia had souls to be saved as well as the 
people of England." " Souls," exclaimed Seymour, " damn 
your souls ; make tobacco !"^^ Commissary Blair, a native of 

18 Quincy, ii. 280. 

13 This is related by Franklin to Messrs Weems and Gant, two candidates then 
in London seeking his counsel as to obtaining orders, in his letter from Passy, 18 
July, 1784. Bigelow, ix., 10. 



262 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Scotland as was William Smith, had come as a Missionary of 
the Church of England to Virginia in 1685. He was nominated 
the first President of the College and so continued the half cen- 
tury until his death in 1743. We are told that, 

before the Revolution, the College consisted of a school of Divinity, one of 
Philosophy, in which Natural Philosophy and Mathematics were taught, a 
Grammar School for instruction in the Ancient Languages, and an Indian 
school supported by the donation of the Hon Robert Boyle, in which, from 
about the year 1700 to 1776, eight to ten Indians were annually maintained 
and educated.^" 

In this christian and generous thought and action for the 
aborigines, the College of William and Mary was far in advance 
of its cotemporaries. Franklin visited the College in April 
1756: 

This day, Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, favored the Society with his 
company and had the degree of A. M. conferred upon him.^^ 

Thomas Jefferson was then in one of the younger classes^ 
graduating in 1759. Twenty years later, the Master and the 
undergraduate were united on a Committee to draft a Declara- 
tion of Independence from the Mother country which came forth 
from their deliberations in the immortal words of the younger 
of the two. 

In 1 77 1, there graduated James Madison, afterwards the 
first Bishop of Virginia, who received the degree of D.D. in 
1785 from the University in Philadelphia; who within three 
years of his graduation was made Professor of Natural Philoso- 
phy and Chemistry, and within six years became the President 
of the College, both of which stations through the remainder of 
his life to 1812 he filled with zeal and ability, and to which after 
his consecration in 1790 were added the duties of his Episcopate. 



'^^ Historical Sketchy p. 40. Archdeacon Burnaby visited William and Mary 
College in September, 1759, and referring to the Indian School says, "this pious 
institution was set on foot and promoted by the excellent Mr. Boyle. * * * At 
present the only Indian children in Mr. Boyle's school are five or six of the Pamunky 
tribe, who, being surrounded by and living in the midst of our settlements, are more 
accustomed to the manners and habits of the English Colonists. * * * The 
business of the Professor of the Indian School is to instruct the Indians in reading, 
writing, and the principles of the Christian religion." Travels, London, 1798, p. 24. 

21 Ibid., 42. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 263 

Provost Smith's Biographer tells us that Rev Mr Madison intro- 
duced the curriculum of the Philadelphia Academy and College 
of 1756,^^ and adopted it on his accession to the Presidency, in 
the College of William and Mary, from which we may learn 
that the course previously pursued was a less liberal one and 
savored more of the courses which we have found to have pre- 
vailed in the New England Colleges prior to the Revolution. 
Franklin may not after his visit of 1756 have again been in 
Virginia, but his interest was awakened in this then venerable 
institution of learning on the banks of the James River, and 
was sealed by his acceptance of a degree of honor it conferred 
upon him. On his return from that visit he found that the 
Trustees had approved of Mr Smith's " Scheme of liberal educa- 
tion," and may have sent a copy of it to his friends at Williams- 
burg as its eminent faculty contained, "Persons of Learning and 
Experience, in order to obtain their sentiments upon it." The 
seeds were sown, and when young Madison became the head 
of the College, at about the same age Smith had become Pro- 
vost, he was ready and able to carry into practice a new depar- 
ture in the College form of studies, which otherwise might have 
remained unchanged in the main since good Commissary Blair 
had established them four score of years before. The vigor of 
youth found its way to the front then when possessed by men 
of courage and cultivation as it does to day, though we are apt 
to assume that only in these times does the opportunity present 
itself to the young man to become a leader. Well may it be, if 
the young man of the present will always find himself as well 
fitted for his opportunity as did Smith and Madison. ^^ 

Of the curriculum in the English Universities we gather the 
best account, not from English sources, but from a German 
authority, V. A. Huber, whose studies of the subject in The 



22 Smith, i. 124. 

^' Mr. Sydney G. Fisher, in his recent interesting publication, entitled Church 
Colleges ; their History, Position and Importance, Philadelphia, 1895, ^^7^ '• " Before 
the Revolution, W^illiam and Mary and the College of Philadelphia were the leading 
seats of learning in the colonies. The fame of Harvard and Yale is of a later date. 
The Philadelphia College was a little larger than William and Mary, and had a wider 
curriculum embracing more topics ; but was inferior to William and Mary in the 
quality of its training and in producing remarkable men." p. 25. 



264 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

English Universities, translated by Francis W. Newman, make 
of the subject one of the most interesting studies in Enghsh hfe. 
He says of their course in the eighteenth century : 

The average scientific result of the seven years course [academic and 
collegiate] may be judged of, by considering what was required by the 
Colleges (not by the University) for the attainment of the Bachelorship in 
Arts. The candidate was to be well founded in Latin, and to have a 
moderate acquaintance with Greek, a certain facility in speaking or writing 
Latin, and a knowledge rather general and elegant, than fundamental, of 
the commonest Classics, connected more with an ability to quote passages, 
than aught else — a rather piecemeal acquaintance with archaeological and 
historical matters, serviceable for commenting on the separate authors. 
Mathematical information, slight enough at Oxford, but comprising in 
Cambridge the higher branches of Mathematics, Physics, and a foretaste of 
Astronomy with the general Philosophical cultivation which may be gath- 
ered from a very moderate acquaintance with the more important works of 
Bacon and Locke. Whatever was done beyond, either in the Arts or in 
the Faculties, was a work of supererogation.^* 

Referring to pubhc examinations, which became the estab- 
lished practice in the Philadelphia Academy for many years 
to the great benefit of the students and reputation of the institu- 
tion, Ruber had, in a few pages before the above, written : 

In Cambridge, the Mathematical examinations appear alone to have 
been carried on with earnestness: indeed, the examinations for "honors" 
introduced as early as the middle of last century, became so severe, that 
only the ablest minds could enter the lists. The publicity of these exami- 
nations, and the interest felt in the results, certainly gave a powerful excite- 
ment to ambition in the case of those who could compete for them. 
Another and more widely diffused stimulus, was found in the prizes which 
were offered, at least after the middle of the century, for compositions in 
prose or in verse. Independently of the prize itself, the publicity of the 
recitation and the augury afforded of future progress for the successful 
candidate, were of great effect. ^^ 

He had already spoken of the pre-eminence of Mathematics 
at Cambridge : 

Only the Mathematical studies at Cambridge and those in Natural 



^* The EnglisJi Universities from the German of V. A. Huber. By F. W. 
Newman, ii. 304. ^^Ibid, ii. 299. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 265 

Philosophy connected with them, require or admit especial mention. In 
these the impulse reached even the University Statutes, and introduced the 
germ of the system of mathematical examinations, which has since reached 
the highest pitch of mechanical perfection ; and essentially contributed to 
gain for Cambridge its mathematical pre-eminence above all other institu- 
tions in the world. The name of Newton suffices to explain this prepon- 
derance of mathematics, yet we ought not to overlook the merit of his 
predecessor Barrow, and the earlier predisposition towards this branch of 
study. That Bentley was not able to elevate the classics to the same 
pitch, may be explained, both by the firm footing which Mathematics had 
already gained, and by his own unpleasantness and unpopularity. While 
Cambridge continued in this praiseworthy path, under Newton' s energetic 
successors, and shortly produced Porson to take the place of Bentley ; 
Oxford also began to break the spell of its political evil spirit, and resume 
its classical studies. Thus in the second half of the eighteenth century we 
find both the Universities upon that level of scientific, moral, and religious 
cultivation, upon which they upon the whole remained till about thirty 
years ago, when a new impulse began, the riper and permanent results of 
which are yet to come.^^ 

Dr. Christopher Wordsworth in his Social Life at the 
English Universities affords us more information as to the ages 
of the matriculants : 

Swift went to Dublin at fourteen. Gibbon entered at Magdalen, 
Oxford, as a gentleman commoner (April, 1752) before he had completed 
his fifteenth year. And, that entries at that early age were contemplated as 
possible, is evident from the fact that there was a regulation at Oxford, 
which provided that students who entered at an earlier age should not 
subscribe the XXXIX Articles on their matriculation, bnt should wait till 
they had completed their fifteenth year. Out of a dozen cases taken at 
random, of men who studied at the Universities in the last century (not 
including Gibbon) I find three who entered at fifteen years of age, two at 
seventeen, three at eighteen, and four at nineteen.'^' 

The ages of the early graduates at the Philadelphia College 
show that they entered college life at earlier years than Dr. 
Wordsworth quotes of the ages at matriculation, at the English 
Universities. Of the seventy graduates at the sixteen com- 
mencements, prior to the abrogation of the Charter in 1779, whose 
ages are known to us, thirty-seven were not over nineteen years 



■^5 Newman, ii. 293-4. ^"^ Social Life, ^. g^. 



266 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

of age, and of these, fifteen were seventeen years of age, eight 
were sixteen years, and three were fifteen : these latter were 
John Bankson, John Maddox Wallace, and Benjamin Duffield. 
The greatest age at graduation was twenty-seven years, this 
being the age of Robert Goldsborough, Samuel Jones a native 
of Wales, and James Cannon a native of Scotland. The aver- 
age of the whole number was nineteen years and six-sevenths. 
The sixty-five whose ages are unknown to us would not, it is 
assumed, materially change these figures. There may be 
naught to argue from this contrary to the completeness of the 
College curriculum, which was admittedly more thorough than 
any cotemporary plan ; but the figures testify to the influence 
of colonial life which stimulated the young men to more rapid 
courses in their educational life, in order the earlier to embark 
in their chosen pursuits whether professional or otherwise. In 
the old country at home more deliberation was had in all such 
matters, and there probably no one was eager to enter the lists 
of trade or of profession where social caste prevailed to dictate 
the mode of a man's pursuit of self maintenance. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 267 

XXXVI. 

It may be well at this point, though we may anticipate 
some of our steps, to consider whether the exemplary standard 
thus raised by the Provost narrowed the door of admission to the 
young applicant, and served in the course of years to maintain 
a minimum number of graduates as compared with the other 
well known and older institutions in the land. To this cause — 
if it existed — may be added a city location of the College and 
Academy, wherein was at first no stated home for the student 
from the interior and which deficiency was only in part remedied 
within a few years. Harvard, and Yale, and New Jersey, and 
William and Mary, each graduated more pupils than Philadel- 
phia and King's College together, 'within the twenty years 
following 1756. Cambridge, New Haven, Princeton, and 
Williamsburg were small places, possibly chosen for scholastic 
sites on account of their freedom from the turmoil of large 
centres, though the first named was within sound of one. Har- 
vard and Yale drew matriculants from the New England Col- 
onies and some even from New York ; Princeton's supply came 
as well from Pennsylvania and New York as from New Jersey, 
the Presbyterian element in Philadelphia contributing largely 
to it. The College of Philadelphia could only draw from its 
own province and the Lower Counties — as they were termed,, 
but at the same time attracted many from Maryland, when 
William and Mary within the period under review had but twO' 
Maryland graduates. But Philadelphia had the honor of grad- 
uating Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant in 1763, a graduate of 
Princeton of 1762, which of itself was a testimony to its higher 
standard. Columbia drew from the churchmen of New York 
and some West India youth, notably Alexander Hamilton,, 
though the latter's studies were interrupted by the approach of 
the Revolution. Of the three hundred and eighteen graduates of 
William and Mary within these two decades, three hundred were 
Virginians, of whom were Jefferson, Monroe, and Marshall^ 
two from Maryland, one from Jamaica, the three Murrays, 
sons of the Earl of Dunmore, and to the honor of the college 



268 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

be it recorded — ten Indians. The t\vo city colleges, New York 
and Philadelphia, even under experienced leaders supported by 
strong local influences, suffered for want of that home college life 
which the other institutions offered. Harvard in this period 
made an annual average of about forty-one graduates, Yale 
about thirty-three, Princeton about twenty and William and 
Mary about sixteen, while Philadelphia Avith two vacant years, 
1758 and 1764, averaged in the twenty a little over seven, and 
Columbia with its first Commencement in 1758, averaged in the 
nineteen years but about five and one-half Of the graduates in 
this period eight became signers of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, William and Mary furnishing Wythe, Jefferson and 
Braxton ; Philadelphia, Hopkinson and Paca ; Harvard, Hooper 
and Gerry; and Princeton, Benjamin Rush — a Philadelphian. Of 
the College Alumni before 1757, there were ten of the signers, 
of which Harvard furnished Samuel Adams, Elleiy, Williams, 
Paine and John Adams ; Yale, Livingston, Lewis Morris, Wol- 
cott and Hall (these two classmates of 1747) ; and Princeton, 
Stockton. The churchmanship of King's College did not 
attract pupils from the general community, as Yale and Prince- 
ton on either side not only furnished to them a more welcome 
theology but a college home life. Philadelphia with its liberal 
Constitutions and catholic minded Trustees yet eventuall}^ fell 
under the taint of Episcopacy, for in Christ Church were 
centred those most active in its control and management. But 
its standard was elevated, and many of the best minds of Penn- 
sylvania and Maryland and Delaware sought the Muses in its 
College, rugged as were the steps that led into its Portico. It 
was to the honor of the College and to the credit of the young 
Provost, that the maintenance of his high standard of 1756 
secured to the graduates a higher rank in general studies, i. e. in 
Philosophy, than their compeers of other Colleges at the time. 



History of the University of Pexxsylvaxia. 269 
XXXVII. 

To carry out in thoroughness this comprehensive scheme of 
tuition the Provost had associated with him in the Faculty, the 
Vice Provost Ahson, and Professors Grew, Kinnersley, and 
Jackson, with the assistance of the Tutors James Latta, Hugh 
Williamson, and Thomas Pratt. Horace Jones had served from. 
175 1, and his engagement ceased in January of this year. 
Young Duche had served but one year's Tutorship ; from 
August, 1754, he had devoted himself solely to his studies. 
Jackson, a Tutor from April 1752, had now been appointed 
Professor of the Languages. John Ormsby, appointed a Tutor 
in the latter part of 1753, had served but a few months. John 
Constable's appointment as Tutor in February, 1755, continued 
barely six months. William Donnaldson served as Tutor but 
for one quarter, at the close of 1755. Andrew Morton had 
been Master of the Charity School since March, 1753 ; William 
Ayres had been assistant in the Charity School since Septem- 
ber, 1755, and when Mr. Morton was appointed Tutor, he was 
unanimously chosen Master to succeed him ; and Mrs. Frances 
Holwell had been Mistress of the Charity School from Decem- 
ber of the same year. John Kirke had assisted in the Charity 
School during 1774, and was "allowed Twenty Pounds for his 
service * * * and Thirty pounds for the year ensuing if 
he continues in the Academy," which, however, he did not. 
Hugh Williamson added to his duties as Tutor those of Writing 
^Master ; but later, Thomas Pratt was called the Writing Master. 
Williamson and Latta, tutors in the Latin Schools, were pupils 
in the Philosophy Schools, and were to adorn the first gradu- 
ating class in the year following. 



270 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XXXVIII. 

But the activities of the Provost in other matters than those 
of the College — the claims of which might well be supposed to 
engage his entire time with only intervals for those pulpit calls 
which his eloquence made frequent/ brought him abreast of 
the politics of the day in which he stirred with a lively interest, 
and on behalf of which he often exercised his ready and trench- 
ant pen. Controversy with him was a sure avenue to the display 
of his keenest abilities, and perhaps was more congenial to him 
at this time of his life, for he was not over thirty years of age, 
than the staid and regular duties of the College with its full day 
sessions and brief holidays in season. This much must be said 
before we narrate one of these controversies, the consideration 
of which found its way into the deliberations of the Trustees, 
and necessarily became part of the history of the College ; the 
only advantage of which lies in the opportunity it affords us in 
passing to take some view of the political heats of the province 
and city at that time prevailing. 

Early in the year 1756 party feeling ran high; the popular 
sentiment being keenly at the time against the Proprietaries 
who continuously instructed their Governors not to approve of 
any bill taxing their estates, and the other side contending this 
cry was a pretence to undermine the Proprietaries' interest 
entirely and take the Government out of their hands. William 
Smith, who could not rest quiet in any civil strife any more than 
in a theological controversy, early sided with the latter party, 
and against the Assembly of which Franklin was a conspicuous 
and influential member. We have seen from his letter of July, 
1754, how early in his Pennsylvania life he had formed views on 
local controversies. It was in the month of March, 1756, that 
being at the Coffee House and engaged in animated conversa- 
tion with Mr. Daniel Roberdeau, afterwards General Roberdeau, 
the latter said to him " he was sorry a gentleman of his cloth had 



1 Dr. George B. Wood in his History of the University of Pennsylvania, read 
before the Historical Society on 29 October, 1827, says: "The Rev'd Dr. Wilham 
Smith was eminent for his various learning and general ability. Many living can bear 
witness to his eloquence as a preacher." p. 20. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 271 

intermeddled in party affairs," to which Mr. Smith rephed " I 
am of no Party: I just dress the Sentiments of one side of the 
Question ; I would do the same for you, were there not men of 
abilities among you." This language was overheard, and being 
repeated from mouth to mouth was added to, so that the 
accepted report had it that Smith's language was to this effect : 
"I only dress the Sentiments of the Proprietary side in proper 
language ; and if it was not that there are men of sense and 
ability among the friends of the People I would do the same for 
them." The offense in this latter version lay in the naming of 
the two parties, and the sting to Smith was in his apparent 
acknowledgment that the Assembly party were the Friends of 
the People. This Mr. Smith met by an affidavit not only deny- 
ing the language as reported, but further denying his having 
given expression to any sentiments of the kind whatever in a 
conversation with Mr. Roberdeau or otherwise. This was met 
by an affidavit of the gentleman and by the same from those 
bystanders who had noted what had been said in the warmth 
of the conversation, affirming that Mr. Smith employed the 
words as first recited above. And to strengthen Mr. Rober- 
deau's worth and credit with the community, not only did the 
Rector, Warden, and Vestrymen of Christ Church certify to his 
having "always supported the character of an Honest, Virtu- 
ous, Religious, Upright and Sober man," but certain citi- 
zens, seventy in number, joined in a certificate in the same 
terms, among whom were Drs. Bond and Zachary and Mr. 
Syng, who were trustees of the Academy. The town talk 
became oppressive, and the Pennsylvania Journal, Bradford's 
paper, admitted communications on the charge anonymous and 
otherwise. Humphrey Scourge gave mild advice to a certain 
Parson : " I could wish for thy own sake, and the sake of those 
under thy care, that thee would behave more prudently, and 
give less occasion of offense to the People ; " and Obadiah 
Honesty came out in a Broadside arguing that the probabilities 
all were against Mr. Smith saying the words currently reported 
he had uttered. Smith himself was the reputed author of an 
article in the Journal of 1 5 April in which he referred to the 



272 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

"aspiring views of a certain mighty politician, who expected 
that every person would fall down and worship the Golden 
Calf. I had almost said the Golden Bull." Which were 
considered by another writer in the issue of the following week 
as " the vomitings of this infamous hireling against an absent 
person." And to this on 6 May, Smith's rejoinder contained a 
qualification of these words, " No one desires to detract from the 
Gentleman's Merits and Abilities, but certainly they are not too 
high for competition nor wholly unparalleled." These references 
to Franklin did not show new antagonisms, but were the fruits 
of earlier controversies. Franklin was absent during this news- 
paper war, not returning until June ; but his unwillingness 
longer to continue President of the Board of Trustees took form 
at the annual meeting in May, when Dr. Peters succeeded him. 
At the moment of time when William and Mary was bestowing 
on him their honorary degree, his own College under the heat 
of local politics was willing his influence in it should be lessened, 
and accepted his withdrawal from the Presidency. 

This present controversy was affecting the College, and the 
young Provost felt the need of vindication from public calumny. 
Franklin on his return from Virginia attended the meeting of 8 
June, but being again called out of town was not at the meeting 
of 5 July, Messrs. Peters, Allen, Hamilton, Inglis, Stedman, 
Maddox, Coleman, Strettel, Taylor and Syng only being present, 
when 

it was moved by one of the Trustees that Examination be made into the 
foundation of the Several Charges lately published to the Disadvantage of 
Mr. Smith, as the Reputation of the Academy might be affected by them, 
and it appearing to the Trustees that in Justice to their own Character as 
well as that of their Provost, such an examination was very proper, it was 
referred to Mr Peters, Mr Taylor and Mr Stedman to make full enquiry into 
this Matter and report the same at the next meeting of the Trustees that it 
may then be considered what ought farther to be done. 

At the same meeting, four of the students of the Senior Philos- 
ophy Class, viz. : Duche, Latta, Hopkinson and Williamson, 
presented a paper to the Trustees which was ordered entered on 
the minutes bearing on this subject. Magaw and Morgan's signa- 
tures are not attached as they were out of town. It was a filial 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 273 

document, the utterance of an appeal in behalf of their Provost 
to whom they were personally attached, resenting the 

several unjust and malicious insinuations lately appearing in the public 
papers and been spread through the city by the heat of Party against the 
Rev. William Smith, Provost of this College, [and thinking it] their duty in 
justice to the Character of our respected Tutor to certify to you that for near 
the space of two years last in which we have been under his immediate care, 
he never did in any of the lectures take occasion to introduce anything relat- 
ing to the Parties now subsisting in this Province, or tending to persuade us 
to adopt the Principles of one side more than another. * ■» * We 
further beg leave to certify to you that in the whole course of his Lectures on 
Ethics, Government, and Commerce, he never advanced any other Princi- 
ples than what were warranted by our standard authors Grotius, Puffendorf, 
Locke and Hutcheson, writers whose sentiments are equally opposite to 
those wild notions of Liberty, that are inconsistent with all government, and 
to those pernicious schemes of government which are destructive of true 
liberty, * * * as a sufficient proof of which we now lay our notes of 
the Lectures which he delivered upon the several Branches of Morality 
before the Trustees and any other persons willing to inspect the same. 

At a meeting held on 13 July with the same members 
except Messrs. Coleman and Syng, and adding Messrs. Turner, 
Cadwalader and Mifflin, the committee presented their report, 
" which being several times read and considered the Trustees 
were unanimously of opinion with the Committee on the 
several Matters reported by them, approved and agreed to their 
Report." In the course of this the Committee say : 

We have likewise at the request of the Trustees examined and inquired 
into the conduct of the Rev' d Mr Smith and do report that during his 
employment in his present Station as Provost of the said College and 
Academy, it has been becoming and satisfactory to us ; his application, his 
abilities and Labours in the instruction of his Pupils have been attended 
with good success and approved by the Trustees and Audience, at the 
late public examination of the senior Philosophy class, who are now recom- 
mended for admission to their first Degree. * •» * From these facts 
and our own personal knowledge of Mr Smith we are of opinion that he has 
discharged his Trust as a capable Professor and an honest man, and that 
he has given sufficient evidence of the goodness of his Principles. 

The action of the Trustees was accepted as his final dis- 
charge from the burden of these public insinuations, and an 
exoneration from all alleged injury to the institutions by his 



274 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

political course. Their Committee's report they desired pub- 
hshed in the Pemisylva7iia Gazette, which offered a wider pub- 
hcity than that afforded by iht Journal, though as it was known 
as Franklin's paper, its columns were rather on that account 
sought for personal reasons. Franklin was absent from the 
the city, but David Hall the publisher returned a reply declin- 
ing an insertion, and this was a further cause of offence against 
the proprietor of the Gazette. This suspicion was not warranted, 
however, and importance only is attached to Hall's letter from 
the fact that the Trustees at their meeting of lO August thought 
it merited a full insertion in their minutes. Mr. Hall said in his 
letter of 15 July : 

but as these insinuations were not published in our paper, and as it has 
some relation to the party disputes that have for some time subsisted, which 
we have carefully avoided having any concern with, I cannot but think it 
more proper to publish this by the same channel, through which the Dis- 
putes have hitherto been carried on, on both sides; especially as in all 
probability there will be some answer or remarks offered upon it which we 
should be under a necessity of publishing, if we printed this, and be 
thereby engaged in an affair, which we have all along been endeavoring to 
avoid. I therefore return it to you in time, that it may be published in the 
other paper, if thought proper. 

This referred to Bradford's Journal, in which, however, it 
did not make an appearance. If the report made to the Trustees 
was offered to Bradford for publication after this refusal by the 
Gazette, and declined by him also, the reason must have been 
from a like desire to avoid further controversy on the subject. 

This declination was in consonance with the general course 
of Franklin's Gazette, and to have printed the Trustees' finding 
would have been a departure from it. The principles of the 
paper in this regard were enumerated in the issue of 8 Janu- 
ary preceding in Franklin's words, which form a sound example 
for the guidance of the partisan press of to-day : 

Whereas the Publick has been lately informed, that various seditious . 
and inflamijig Papers have been published in this Province containing abus- 
ive Reflections, tnanifestty tendiftg to propagate Dissetisioft, &~>c., which 
seems (tho' perhaps undesignedly) to throw a general Reflection on all the 
Printers in the Province; and as the Publishers of this Gazette think they 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 275 

deserve no share of that Blame, having, for a course of years, carefully- 
avoided publishing any Thing of that kind in their Paper; they therefore 
desire, that Papers of such a Tendency may not be offered to their Press 
for the future; for if they are, they will (as they have hitherto been) be 
absolutely rejected, without any regard to the Author or Authors of them. 
But, on the contrary, if any Pieces of a healing Nature are sent us, with 
a view of doing away our late unhappy Differences, and of extirpating that 
cruel Spirit of Party Rage, which has so long torn us to Pieces; and which 
may be a Means under Divine Providence of uniting us together as one 
Man in the Defence of our bleeding country, that is daily ravaged by a 
Savage enemy, supported by a treacherous one; such Pieces shall be most 
thankfully received and immediately made publick, by the Proprietors of 
this News-Paper. 



XXXIX. 

From this picture it is pleasant to turn to another sphere 
of action in which WiUiam Smith found time to engage, 
one more congenial to his academy connections, and this was 
the work of the Society for the Education of Germans in 
America.^ Before he left London on his return to America in 
the Spring of 1754, he had been in communication with gentle- 
men who had associated themselves to secure more education to 
the ignorant German emigrants to Pennsylvania, and prevent 
their being led away by French persuasions from British inter- 
ests, and " that they may become better subjects to the British 
government and more useful to the Colonies, where Providence 
has now fixed their habitation." On their behalf the Rev. 
Samuel Chandler, their Secretary, addressed a letter to Gover- 
nor Hamilton, Chief Justice Allen, Secretary Peters, Postmaster 
General Franklin, Conrad Weiser, Interpreter, and Rev. William 
Smith, which the latter bore with him, appointing these gentle- 
men their Trustees. Mr. Smith wrote to Mr. Chandler, in a 
week after his arrival in Philadelphia, conveying the assurance 
of these gentlemen of how sensible they were of the honor done 

1 Smith, i. 40. 



276 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

them by the Society, and that they will decline no labor in the 
execution of their important trust, adding : 

We think the scheme you have engaged in for the instruction of these 
poor foreigners, and blend them with ourselves in the most inestimable 
privileges and interests, is one of the most generous and most useful that 
ever engaged the attention even of Britons. But Mess Peters and Frank- 
lin are to be sent out on Monday next as commissioners from this Province 
to the general treaty, to be held with the Five Nations at Albany in New 
York, on the 14th of next month; we cannot, therefore, do anything in the 
business you so generously commend to us until their return, especially as 
Mr. Weiser attends them. 

At their first meeting,^ 10 August, 1754, held at the house 
of the Chief Justice at Mount Airy, Messrs. Hamilton, Peters, 
Franklin, and Smith being present, they resolved " that an Eng- 
lish school be erected and opened with all possible expedition 
at each of the following places, viz : at Reading, York, Easton, 
Lancaster, Hanover, and Skippack." As there early arose 

the difficulty of finding proper Schoolmasters skilled in both languages 
coming next under consideration, Mr. Smith informed his co-trustees that 
there were several poor children in the Academy that spoke English and 
German, who might in a few years be qualified to serve as schoolmasters. 

Franklin presented and read a letter to him from the Rev. 
Henry Muhlenberg in which 

he rejoiced much in hearing an illustrious society at home had undertaken 
to carry on a scheme for promoting the knowledge of God among the 
Germans in Pennsylvania, and for making them loyal subjects to the sacred 
Protestant throne of Great Britain, and that he was pleased that the man- 
agement of the said charity was intrusted to such important persons ; but, 
as by long experience he was acquainted with almost all the corners of 
Pennsylvania, and with the temper and circumstances of his countrymen, 
he much feared some ill-minded persons would strive to defeat so just and 
noble a view. * * * Mr. Sauer who printed a German newspaper, 
which was universally read by the Germans all over Pennsylvania and the 
neighboring colonies, made haste to prejudice them against the scheme. 

It was resolved to purchase a German printing-house, to 
counteract this influence ; and 
Mr Franklin said that a few days before a printer of good character, well 

2 Smith, i. 64. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 277 

skilled in English and German, had applied to him to purchase his 
German printing house, but that if the trustees thought it best to have the 
press under their own direction, he would endeavor to engage the printer 
in their service, both as a schoolmaster and printer, and in order to encour- 
age so useful a work, he would dispose of his press to the trustees at ^25. 
less than any two impartial judges would value it at. [This was agreed to, 
and Mr. Smith was appointed Secretary] to keep a record of the proceed- 
ings of the Trustees, so that copies of them might from time to time be 
transmitted to the Society in London and to the proprietaries. 

At a meeting on 23 August held at the Governor's House 
at Bush Hill, local or deputy trustees were elected for each of 
the six places already named ; and the question arising whether 
one Calvinist and one Lutheran minister should not be joined 
with each set of deputy trustees, Mr Weiser observed that 

so great was the jealousy of the people at present against the clergy in 
general, that such a measure at first might be a hindrance to the scheme, 
especially as these jealousies are daily fomented, as was further confirmed 
by different articles which he called attention to in Mr Sauer's paper. 

Mr. Smith's correspondence in the work of this Society is 
very entertaining, and affords a view of the apprehension gener- 
ally felt by the loyal and educated Englishmen of the increase 
of the German population, who, with an alien language portended 
trouble to the unity of English rule in Pennsylvania. He writes 
to the Archbishop of Canterbury 19 October, 1754.^ 

As the French are|daily encroaching behind us, and taking possession 
of the vast fruitful country upon the Ohio, they will be able to offer our 
Germans easy settlements, which these last will accept of, as they are an 
ignorant people that know no difference between French and English gov- 
ernment, being wanton with liberty, uninstructed in the use of it, and 
placing all happiness in possessing a large piece of land. * * *■ The Indians 
are going over to the French in these parts, because the latter, having 
possession by means of their forts, can protect them ; and whenever they 
come a little nearer, the Germans will submit and go over also for protec- 
tion, caring for nothing but to keep possession of the estates they have 
settled. 

Mr. Smith prepared A Brief History of the Rise and Prog- 
ress of the Scheme carrying on for the Instruction of Poor Ger- 

3 Smith, i. 86. 



278 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

mans and their Descendants, which was approved of at a meet- 
ing on 10 December, 1754, and fifteen hundred copies ordered 
to be printed in English and Dutch. The work went on ; and 
in February, 1755, they commissioned the Rev. Mr. Schlatter* to 
take a journey through the several parts of the Province and 
visit the schools already formed, and try to counteract the 
opposition which yet remained to this benevolent plan, and seek 
more openings for the furtherance of the objects of the Society. 
But Christopher Sauer mistrusted its aims and fanned the oppo- 
sition into life. He wrote to a friend 6 September, 1755 : 

I have been thinking since you wrote to me whether it is really true 
that Gilbert Tennent, Schlatter, Peters, Hamilton, Allen, Turner, Schippin, 
Schmitt, Franklin, Muhlenberg, Brumholz, Handschuh, &c, have the 
slightest care for a real conversion of the ignorant portion of the Germans 
in Pennsylvania, or whether the institution of free schools is not rather the 
foundation to bring the country into servitude, so that each of them may 
look for and have his own private interest and advantage.^ Concerning 
Hamilton, Peters, Allen, Turner, Schippin, and Franklin, I know that they 
care very little about religion, nor do they care for the cultivation of mind 
of the Germans, except that they should form the militia, and defend their 
properties. Such people do not know what it is to have faith and confi- 
dence in God; but they are mortified that they cannot compel others to 
protect their goods. 

The Society bought Franklin's press on his terms ; and 
Smith writes Mr. Chandler 30 October, 1755 :^ 

The German newspaper succeeded well; there being upwards of 400 
subscribers, and more daily coming in, * * * the paper may do more 
good to the design than several sc hools, because the Director has express 
orders not to meddle with any of the disputes in this province, but to strive 
in every paper to say something to improve and better his countrymen and 
to confirm them in the Love and Knowledge of the Protestant Religion and 
Civil Liberty. There are also 3000 Dutch almanacs for 1756 printed. 

This was a noble work, in which William Smith appeared 
to have had the laboring oar, exhibiting at once his faith, his 
patriotism and his philanthropy. When we consider this, with all 
its correspondence and perhaps controversy, was added to his 
first busy year at the Academy which had now become a College 

* Smith, i. 92. * Ibid, i. 95. * Ibid, i. 96. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 279 

with him as its Provost, together with his by-play of local 
politics, we can form some realization of his great energy and 
keen intelligence, shunning no work, accepting in the warmth 
of youth all those duties which an active and willing man always 
draws to himself, and performing them with singular zeal and 
tenacity. 

In the height of the Roberdeau controversy, occurred the 
public fast, appointed by the Government of Pennsylvania, for 
2 May 1756; and Mr. Smith preached at Bristol,^ Pennsylvania, 
one of his published Discourses, taking as his text certain verses 
from Jeremiah viii. In his introduction he " acquaints the reader 
that the discourse was delivered when the Province was groaning 
under all that load of misery, which was the consequence of 
Braddock's Defeat and the inroads of the French and Savages on 
our distressed and helpless Frontiers, and any apology for the 
matter or manner of it would be needless." In it he eloquently 
describes the visitations of Providence, which brought from the 
Authorities the call for a Fast. 

Within the short period of one year, how many marks of God's 
dealing with us have we seen ? Not to mention excessive droughts, earth- 
quakes and other omens of his wrath, the troops sent to our protection 
have been most miserably defeated, and such scenes of barbarity, sorrow 
and desolation have ensued, as human nature shudders to recount, and 
history can scarce parallel. * * * Yet what have we profited by all 
this ? * * * Has it brought our civil discords to an end ? or has it 
eradicated those absurd principles of government that have brought our 
country to the brink of ruin ? * * * Have we not many who have 
made it their business to restrain the ardor of God's people in their 
righteous cause ; to tie up the hands of the king's best subjects in the 
hour of extremest danger, and cry. Peace, peace, when there is no peace ? 

These political references were not misunderstood at the time. 

During the year prior to this, William Smith had written 
a pamphlet entitled A Brief State of the Province of Pennsyl- 
vania * * * ifi a letter from a gentleman who has resided 
many years in Pennsylvania to his friend in London in which the 



"^ Discourses, London 1759, p. 62. This is the only edition naming the place 
of preaching. This was afterwards preached '* with small variation " at German- 
town on the Public Fast in July 1757. ibid, p. 61. 



28o History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

conduct of their assemblies is impartially examined, and which 
passed through three editions in London. * This was charged 
with being written " with a view to render the Quakers of Penn- 
sylvania and their Government obnoxious to the British Par- 
liament and Ministry." And Smith wrote a second letter 
entitled A Brief View of the Co?iduct of Pennsylvania for the 
year IJSS * * * Interspersed with several interesting anec- 
dotes and original papers relating to the politics and principles of 
of the people called Quakers, which was published in London in 
1756.^ In his first letter, Smith affords us some interesting 
figures of the population of the Province : 

that the inhabitants were to be computed to be two hundred and twenty 
thousand — one third Germans, two fifths Quakers, more than one fifth 
Presbyterians, and some few Baptists. One fourth of the Germans were 
Roman Catholics. [He] suggested that Christopher Sauer was a popish 
emissary, in the pay of the Quakers. 

And the consequence of Sauer's influence "was that the Ger- 
mans voted with the Quakers, were under the control of that 
party, and always voted to keep them in power." And he 
recommended 

to suspend the right of voting for members of the Assembly from the 
Germans until they have sufficient knowledge of our language and consti- 
tution : and to make all bonds, wills and other legal contracts, void, 
unless in the English tongue ; that no newspapers, almanacs, or periodi- 
cal paper, by whatsoever name it may be called, be printed or circulated 
in foreign language ; or, at least, if allowed, with a just and fair English 
version of such foreign language printed in one column df the same page 
or pages, along with the said foreign language. 

And yet we have found him pursuing, in response to Franklin's 
wise suggestion, the better course in the Society for the educa- 
tion of the Germans of meeting the redoubtable Christopher 
Sauer with his own weapons, and employing a German press 
to circulate its publications among those (dreaded foreigners 



^ Smith, i. 122, 123. 

^ The Pennsylvania yoiirnal of 27 May, 1756, announces this, "Being a 
Sequel to a Late well known Pamphlet Intitled a Brief State of Pennsylvania." 
"Just published in London and to be sold by William Bradford, price 2/6." The 
Gazette of the followins; week has a like advertisement. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 281 

whose assumed power for evil was deemed subversive of all that 
was English in Government or religion ; overlooking the force 
of a natural sympathy binding the quiet German, intent only 
in his home life and freedom from state ambition, to the peace 
loving Quaker who might be the better legislator for his in- 
terests. It is difficult for us of to-day, who are reaping the fruits 
of the inherent strength of our own mother tongue, to realize 
the apprehension of our colonists at the predominating influence 
of German language and politics. 



XL. 

The life of the young College and Academy would not re- 
ceive full illustration without a proper understanding at this 
period of the activities of its young Provost ; for it could not be 
otherwise than that his instant zeal ecclesiastically, politically, and 
philanthropically should reflect some publicity upon, and secure 
some influence for, the noble school which he was now with 
equal zeal extending and strengthening. One thing is quite as- 
surred, that the College was kept well before the eyes of the 
community, and if publicity would bring success it was bound 
to attain it. But however this may be, these influences were 
not all salutary, for seeds were now sown which brought forth 
such malevolent fruit in 1779, and it is difficult to conceive his 
giving in the exitements of the day that constant and complete 
attention to the furtherance of his curriculum, which it and the 
institution it served might seem to require. 

The first commencement was hoped for in the Spring of 
1756. In the Gazette of 29 April, 1756, it is noticed : "On 
Friday se'ennight at Ten o'clock in the Morning, the public 
Examinations of Candidates for Degrees in the College of Phil- 
adelphia will be begun in the Public Hall, and continued that 



282 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Day and the Day following." No reference to this finds place 
in the Trustees' proceedings, and it was probably deemed better 
to await conferring the first degrees of the College, until after the 
aspirants had some training in the Scheme of liberal Education 
which the Provost had about this time submitted for the appro- 
bation of the Board. At their meeting of 27 December, 1756, 
it was " ordered that an exact Catalogue of the Youth at present 
in each of the Schools be prepared by the Clerk and presented 
to the Trustees at the next meeting," which was submitted and 
we find it " inserted in the Minute Book by order of the Trus- 
tees " at the meeting of 5 March, 1757. Those who had now 
earned their Degrees are not included. The Philosophy school 
had twelve pupils, the Latin, sixty, the Mathematical twenty- 
two and the English thirty-one. This first roll of students is 
worthy of recording here as we find the names entered in due 
order on the minute book. 

The following List of the Youth belonging to the College and Acad- 
emy of Philadelphia is inserted in the Minute Book by Order of the 
Trustees. 

Philosophy School. 

senior class. junior class. 

John Allen Samuel Keene 

Andrew Allen John Chew 

James Allen Philemon Dickinson 

Joseph Reade Alexander Lawson 

John Morris William Paid [Paca ?] 

Samuel Powell 
Abraham Walton 

Latin School. 

Benjamin Baynton James Murray 

Thomas Bond Samuel Morris 

John Cadwalader William Greenway 

Lambert Cadwalader Tench Tilghman 

Thomas Mifflin Joel Evans 
Lindsay Coates 

Robeson Yorke John Luke 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 285, 



John Stevens 

Alexander Wilcox [Wilcocks ?] 

William Gibbes 

Richard Peters 

James Cruikshank 

William Kinnersley 

Hugh Hughes 

Mark Grime 

John Searle M'Call 

Andrew Hamilton 

William Hamilton 

Jasper Yeates 
Henry Darler 
John Neilson 
George Thomson 
John Murgatroyd 

Samuel Inglis 
Thomas Lawrence 
Samuel Nicholas 
Perry Frazier Child 
Robert Strettell Jones 
John Okill 
John Diemer 
Henry Elves 



Francis More 
Benjamin Alison 
Anthony Morris 
John Johnson 
Thomas Coombe. 

Thomas Hopkinson 
James Huston 
George Rundle 
George Davis 
William White 
Thomas Murgatroyd 
James Sayer 

John Johnson 

John Bennezett [Benezetj?] 

Edward Welch 

John Ord 

William Davis 

William Hockley 

John Reade 

Samuel Correy 

George Ogle 

Philip Francis 

Amos Denormandie [Andrew^PJj 



Mathematical School. 



Nathan Comitage 
Henry Benbrige 
James Cools [Coutts ?] 
John Dunbavin 
George Emlen 
Nathaniel Evans 
James Gorrel 
John Jepson 
John Inglis 
Charles Knight 
Thomas Maybury 



Andrew Bell 
James Bingham 
John Bingham 



Cornelius O' Bryan. 
Charles Pratt 
Thomas Pratt 
Thomas Plumsted 
Thomas Philips 
Samuel Penrose 
John Sharpe 
John Wilcocks 
John Yeates 
Andrew Yorke 
William Karst 

English School. 

Phineas Bond 
Joseph Conyers 
John Deering 



284 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



Richard Duncan 
George Gostelowe 
Henry Kepley [Keppele ?] 
Matthew Jackson 
Joseph M' Ilvaine 
William M' Ilvaine 
William Merrifield 
George Morgan 
Robert Montgomery 
Lindley Murray 
William Rush 
Samuel Smith 
Gillis Sharpe 



Joseph Syng 
John White Swift 
Thomas Tresse 
John Wooden 
Thomas Moore 
Thomas Woodcock 
John Fullerton 
Alexander Fullerton 
William Falkner 
John Knox 
John Montour 
Richard Stanley 



XLI. 

But in the midst of preparations for the long looked-for first 
Commencement, the Provost's eloquence as a preacher brought 
to him an invitation for another of his special sermons from 
Colonel Stanwix who was about starting with the forces under 
his command to the Frontiers/ The Colonel and his command 
attended in Christ Church on 5 April, 1757, when William Smith 
preached his Discourse on " The Christian Soldier's Duty ; the 
Lawfulness and Dignity of his Office ; and the Importance of the 
Protestant Cause in the British Colonies," from St. Lukeiii. 14. — 
"such are the words which were recommended to me on the sub- 
ject of this discourse."^ It is an able argument on behalf of the 
Christian Soldier's Duty, and an eloquent plea for the rightful- 
ness of human warfare under circumstances of defense and op- 
pression, and one which the necessities of the colony at the time 

^ " On Tuesday last the first Battalion of the Royal American Regiment marched 
in their several Companies to Christ Church in this city ; where, after Prayers by the 
Rev. Dr. Jenny, a sermon was preached to them by the Rev. Mr. Smith, Provost of the 
College, at the request of their officers. As the subject was important, there was a 
very solemn attention in all present ; and the Colonel has requested that the sermon 
may be published, wliich will be done with all possible Expedition." Fenn. Gazette, 
7 April, 1757. 

^ Discourses, London 1759, p. 97. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 285 

demanded, " I will pronounce it," he says " before Heaven 
and Earth, that from the days of our Alfreds, our Edwards, and 
Henries downward, the British sword was never unsheathed in a 
more glorious cause than at present." 

The next public occasion in Avhich we find William Smith a 
participant was upon the arrival in the province of William 
Denny, the Lieutenant Governor, as successor of Governor Mor- 
ris, from whom the College obtained its charter. The welcome 
accorded to Denny was warm on all sides, only equalled in its 
force by the disappointment soon caused by the failure of his 
administration, in which came to an issue the contentions 
between the Proprietaries whom he represented and the Assem- 
bly, and which in a few short months produced that mission to 
England in which Benjamin Franklin and Isaac Norris were dele- 
gated to bear the plaints of the Assembly to the King. Governor 
Denny arrived in Philadelphia 2 1 August, 1756, and was greeted 
with sundry addresses from various bodies of citizens, Franklin 
presenting him with an address as Colonel of the Regiment and 
Artillery Company of the City of Philadelphia, and with one in 
behalf of the Hospital. William Smith presented 

the humble address of the Provost, Vice Provost, and Professors of the 
College and Academy of Philadelphia. * * * Permit us to recom- 
mend the Seminary of Learning under our care to your Honour's Protec- 
tion, hoping, that you will condescend to grant the same Countenance to it, 
and to us, which, on all occasions, we have been honoured with from your 
two worthy Predecessors in the Government ; by which means, and the 
fatherly care of the Trustees, its Founders, this Institution, thro' the Bless- 
ing of God, has arrived to a very great Degree of Perfection ; altho' it has 
hitherto been carried on under many Disadvantages and in Times that have 
been far from auspicious to the Muses or the softer Arts of Peace. 

To which the Governor happily said in his response : 

As a proper Education contributes greatly to the Advantage of Man- 
kind, you may, on all occasions, rely on my Countenance and Protection ; 
and be assured that I shall think myself happy, in promoting and encour- 
aging so laudable an institution. * 



^Pennsylvania Gazette, 26 August, 2 and 9 September, 1 756. 



286 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



XLII. 

At the meeting of the Trustees held on 12 April, 1757, 
order was taken for the first commencement, a programme 
arranged, and the time named. On the 7th of the month the 
Gazette announced that : 

The Commencement for giving Degrees to the Senior Class of Stu- 
dents in the College of this City, formerly put off on Account of the Small 
Pox, is now fixed to be on Tuesday the 17th Day of May next : which will 
l3e the first Commencement that has ever been had in this Seminary. 

At the meeting of 10 May, the due formality was observed 
of the Senior Class, Paul Jackson, James Latta, Hugh William- 
son, Francis Hopkinson, John Morgan, Samuel Magaw and 
Jacob Duche, presenting their humble petition, that 

having gone through our Course of Studies in the Sciences, as professed in 
this College, and having performed our public Exercises and been publicly 
■examined as Candidates for Degrees in your Presence, agreeable to Charter, 
do now humbly request, that you would be pleased by your written Man- 
date to present and recommend us to the Provost, Vice Provost and Pro- 
fessors for our Admission to such Degree or Degrees as as we are entitled to 
by, our several Standings and Proficiencies in this Institution, [which] being 
considered and approved, the Trustees accordingly directed the Mandate 
to be issued. 

But as some honorary degrees were in contemplation, two 
Mandates were issued to the Faculty. The first 

directing the Faculty to admit Paul Jackson to the Degree of Master of 
Arts, and Jacob Duche, Francis Hopkinson, Samuel Magaw, Hugh Wil- 
liamson, James Latta and John Morgan to the Degree of Bachelor of Arts. 

And the second to 

admit Ebenezer Kinnersley Professor of English and Oratory in the 
Academy and Theophilus Grew Professor of Mathematics to the Honorary 
Degree of Master of Arts ; and Josiah Martin, now Student at the Temple, 
a youth of promising Genius who had finished the requisite Course of 
Studies in order to the Degree of Bachelor in the Senior Philosophy Class 
of this College, ^ and Solomon Southwick of Rhode Island, who without the 



^ He died in the Island of Antigua in June, 1762, and Hopkinson wrote an 
Elegy on his former classmate. Essays and Occasional Writings^ iii. 70. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 287 

usual Foundation of critical Learning and Languages discovered an apt- 
ness worthy of Encouragement in Mathematics and some Branches of 
Philosophy, to the honorary Degree of Bachelor of Arts . 

The programme for the Commencement was announced in 
the Gazette on 12 May, 1757, and was as follows : 

A Plan of the Commencement to be held here on Tuesday next, 
in the College and Academy Hall. 

Prayers by the Rev. Mr. Peters. 

A Sermon adapted to the Occasion by the Provost. 

A Salutatory Oration by Mr. Jackson. And 

A Thesis to be defended. — This closes the forenoon. 
In the afternoon. 

Three other Theses to be defended. 

Then the Degrees are to be conferred. 

Some Orations are to be spoken by some of the Students who have 
been admitted to Degrees ; and a Valedictory Oration to be spoken by Mr. 
Jacob Duche. 

N. B. To avoid Confusion, the Gallery Door will be opened at Half 
an Hour past Nine, and the Business of the Day will begin precisely at 
Ten in the forenoon, and at Three in the afternoon. 

We can imagine the interest of the occasion to all who 
were concerned in it, and which enabled the friends of the insti- 
tution to attend what was practically an All-day Commence- 
ment. Such however was the custom of the period, and it 
lived in some of the American Colleges into the times of the 
present generation. The Trustees saw the crowning of their 
eight years' effort in the public graduation of their first class ; 
the Provost and the Faculty the successful issue of their Liberal 
plan of Education in fitting their young men for the "Com- 
mencement " of their matured lives ; and the young men them- 
selves were impressed with the dignity and responsibility of 
being the first to earn the honors of their Alma Mater, and they 
were men who each of them in his life of usefulness attained 
such eminence and displayed such worth, as to have united in 
making their class not only the first in the history of the insti- 
tution but unexcelled in point of average distinction and renown 
by any of its successors. 

The Minutes afford us no record of this day's festivities, 
nor does the Gazette make any reference to the proceedings, as 



288 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

in some subsequent Commencements. The Trustees were 
present with but one notable exception, for Benjamin Franklin 
had sailed a month before on his mission to England represent- 
ing the Assembly's complaint on the subject of the Proprietaries' 
claims. Dr. Peters was announced to open the services with 
Pra}^er, but he had not been present at the meeting of 12 May 
nor does his signature appear on the Mandates. The Provost's 
sermon was from the text Psalm ii. 8, " On the Planting the 
Sciences in America, and the Propagation of Christ's Gospel 
over the untutored Parts of the Earth," and is the Fifth in the 
Discourses of 1759.^ This eloquent Sermon we have already 
drawn upon for the Provost's explanation of the term Philoso- 
phy as applied in his Curriculum. He sets out with two propo- 
sitions : 

First to observe to you that the propagation of Science (thro' the 
establishment of seminaries of Learning on this continent) will probably 
be the most effectual human means of accomplishing so glorious an end 
[the conversion of the heathen]. 

Secondly, in this view of things — and surely I can find none higher — 
to bespeak your continued favor and protection of this infant Seminary. [And 
later, proceeds in his argument :] Having shewn the subserviency of Human 
Science to the advancement of Christianity, and that the plan of education, 
pursued in this Seminary, cannot fail, thro' Divine grace, to be a means of 
spreading a thirst for heavenly wisdom ; what need I add more, to bespeak 
your continued favour and protection of it? Surely it cannot be indifferent 
to you, whether the knowledge of Christ and his blessed Gospel shall be 
spread over this continent, or not ? Surely it cannot be indifferent to you, 
whether your own children should be bred up in ignorance; or whether 
they shall shine in every moral excellence, the glory of their country and 
a light to the world around them ? You must know the relation in which 
you stand to them, and the account which you will one day be required to 
give of their tender years. 

Oh ! then, in the first place, I beseech you, let their minds be sea- 
soned with useful knowledge, and cherish this infant Seminary for their 
benefit, and the benefit of millions that are to come after them. For what- 
ever business you may design them, the education they will receive here 
will not only prepare them for that, but also for a life of general virtue. 



^ It is printed as Part II of the Sixth in the Discourses of 1762; but does not 
appear as such in the Works oi l^o'^. It may here be noted that the quotations 
which follow are taken from the copy of the Discourses of 1759 owned by Dr. 
Frankhn. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 289 

If you intend them for the noble Profession of the Law, to be the 
protectors of the innocent and the advocates of justice; the best foundation 
will be a love of humanity, and such a knowledge of the laws of nature 
and general rights of mankind as they will obtain here. If for the service 
of the state, the same will hold good. The man best acquainted in the 
nature of civil government, the just bounds of authority and submission, 
and the universal principles of equity and virtue, will always be the ablest 
Politician and firmest Patriot. Again, if they are to follow the healing art 
of Physic, the knowledge of mathematics and the various branches of 
Natural Philosophy, will be the best introduction. If proposed for the 
Ministry of the blessed Gospel, it has been already observed that every 
human science ought to lend its aid, and kindle a love of wisdom. 

If other arguments were necessary to induce you to the cultivation of 
knowledge and the support of this Institution, I might display to you the 
wonderful -change which the Sciences have produced in the state of every 
country, where they have been received. Tho' they have not been able 
wholly to eradicate tyranny, yet they have always crushed and mitigated t 
influence; inspiring humanity, love of moral excellency, and every softer 
virtue. 

But why should I bring instances from other countries, when one of 
the most illustrious is before our eyes ? This pohshed and flourishing city ! 
What was it fourscore years ago ? Even its foundations were not then laid; 
and in their place was one depth of gloomy wilderness ! This very spot, 
this Seat of the Muses — where I have now the honour to stand, preaching 
the Gospel of Jesus, surrounded with men excelling in every valuable 
accomplishment, and youth rising after their great example — had I seen it 
then, what should I have found it ? A spot rank with weeds perhaps, or 
the obscure retreat of some lawless and gloomy savage. 

O glorious change ! O happy day ! that now beholds the Sciences 
planted where barbarity was before ! that now sees this Institution at length 
brought to such perfection, as to extend the Laurel to her first worthy sons! 
how ought such advancements in knowledge; to rejoice every heart among 
us, but especially you the founders and patrons of this excellent Seminary, 
who now begin to taste some of the chief fruits of your pious labors. 

This sermon affords us some insight into the display of 
rehgious influences in the College : 

Tho' its wide and generous foundation allows equal indulgence to 
Protestant denominations of all sorts, without adopting the particular 
modes of any ; yet there is not a greater regard paid to religion, pure 
evangeUcal religion, in any seminary in the world than here. 

We have forms of prayer, peculiarly well adapted to our own cir- 
cumstances, twice every day ; and the morning is always begun with read- 



290 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

ing some portion of the holy scriptures ; all which is done before the whole 
youth assembled. And when they have arrived at their highest progress 
in Philosophy and Science, we are far from instructing them to think that 
their education is finished. On the contrary, we strive to shew them the 
connexion between the precepts of sound reason and the morality of the 
Gospel ; and teach them that, when Human Science has done its utmost, 
it is from this last source that they must complete their knowledge and 
draw superior wisdom. Nor do we now find our labors difficult in this 
respect. For such an acquaintance with the Sciences, as is mentioned 
above, is so far from damping the ardor of religious knowledge, that it is 
inflamed more and more thereby ; which is one convincing argument of 
the strong and immediate connexion between them. 

We are not, then, surprised, when of the seven graduates 
on this occasion, we see four of them entering the .ministry, 
Duche and Magaw, of the Church of England, and Wilhamson 
and Latta of the Presbyterians. 

For the second part of the Commencement exercises, the 
Provost reserved his " Charge, Delivered in the Afternoon of 
the same Day, to the Candidates who obtained their Degrees," 
which he opens with a reference to their freedom from the 
University tests of the old country : 

You now appear as candidates for the first honors of this institution. 
The free spirit that it breathes permits us not to bind you to us by the 
ordinary ties of oaths and promises . Instead thereof, we would rely on 
those principles of virtue and goodness which we have endeavored to cul- 
tivate. * * * You are now about to step into life, and embark in all 
its busy scenes. It is fit, then, that you should make a pause — a solemn 
pause — at its portal, and consider well what is expected from you, and 
how you are prepared to perform it. * * * Let no part if your future 
conduct disgrace the lessons you have received, or disappoint the hopes 
you have so justly raised ! Consider yourselves, from this day, as distin- 
guished above the vulgar, and called upon to act a more important part in 
life ! strive to shine forth in every species of moral excellence, and to 
support the character and dignity of beings formed for endless duration ! 
The christian world stands much in need of inflexible patterns of integrity 
and public virtue ; and no part of it more so than the land you inhabit. 
* * * If, then, you regard the credit of this institution, which will 
travail in concern for you, till you are formed into useful men ; if you 
regard your own credit, and the credit of the many succeeding setts of 
youth, who may be hied to glory by your example ; let your conduct in 
the world be such, at least, as to deserve the applause of the wiser and the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 291 

better part of it. Remember you are the first wlio have received the 
honors of this Seminary. * * Think, then, what pain it would give us, 
should we be disappointed in you, our first and most hopeful sons. 

This forms an admirable Chapter of Counsel, suitable for all 
classes and conditions of Youth, and for all times, and is made 
impressive by the earnestness of youth with its sense of respon- 
sibility, for it must be remembered that William Smith had not 
yet attained his thirtieth birthday. And closing with fervor, he 
adapted the words Polonius gave to Laertes to this occasion. 

Farewell ! my blessing season this in you. 

This Charge was printed by Franklin and Hall in pamphlet 
form, which included also Paul Jackson's Latin Salutatory. In 
his preface, the Provost says : 

Whether the Partiality of Private Friendship has made the Author 
of the following charge too Sanguine in favor of the young gentlemen to 
whom it was delivered. Time will best show. * -s * other specimens 
might also be produced, which would redound greatly to the credit of the 
other young gentlemen, were anything further necessary than the ample 
Testimony they have already received from an institution which ' tis hoped 
will never prostitute its Honours to the Undeserving. 



292 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 



XLIII. 

But William Smith was not " too Sanguine in favour of 
the young gentlemen," who formed the first graduating class 
and which proved such an exemplar to its successors. Their 
individual merits, and the peculiar circumstances which made 
them the first children of this Alma Mater, call for some notice 
here before we proceed further in our narrative, 

Paul Jackson, who was of Scotch-Irish descent the son of 
Samuel Jackson of Oxford, Chester County, who died in 1768, 
proceeded at once to the degree of Master of Arts, the first 
possessor of it on the University roll, became a Tutor in the 
Academy in April, 1752, and on 13 April, 1756, was appointed 
the Professor of Languages, and though thus a member of the 
Faculty became an alumnus with the Master's degree. To him 
was accorded, as we have seen, the honor of the Latin Saluta- 
tory at the Commencement. But within two years' time his 
health began to fail, and at the meeting of the Trustees, 9 May, 
1758, it was voted that " Professor Jackson, for sometime past, 
having found himself consumptive, requested of the Trustees 
his Discharge from the care of the Latin School, and their 
Interest with the Governor to obtain for him a Commission in 
the Levies now raising for the Expedition against Fort Duquesne, 
At his pressing Instance, they not only consented to his Dis- 
charge, but those of the Trustees who were members of the 
Governor's Council, recommended him for a Captain's Com- 
mission, which the Governor conferred on him, and they have 
taken it into consideration how his Place shall be supplied ; " 
which was done by the appointment the month following of Mr. ■ 
John Beveridge. When Mr. Coleman desired release from being 
Clerk to the Trustees, Mr. Jackson was appointed 1 1 July, 
1755, to succeed him — much to the regret however of the reader 
of Mr. Coleman's clerkly and well written Minute. He lived 
but ten years after graduation, and he lies buried at St. Paul's, 
Chester, Pa., with the inscription on his stone : " Here lies Paul 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 293 

Jackson, A. M. ; he was the first to receive a degree in the 
College of Philadelphia ; a man of virtue, worth and knowl- 
edge ; died 1767, aged 36 years." ^ 

Jacob Duche, jr, was born in Philadelphia in 1737, the son 
of Col. Jacob Duche, an eminent citizen of that city and a 
vestryman of Christ Church. We have already known him as 
a pupil of the Academy, where also for fifteen months, from 
May 1753 to August 1754, he served as Tutor. In the month 
of July following his graduation he accompanied Governor 
Denny as a clerk on his visit to Easton in pursuit of an Indian 
treaty, Richard Peters being of the party. Intending to seek 
orders in the Church of England, he crossed the ocean and 
entered Clare Hall, Cambridge, and was ordained by the Bishop 
of London ii March, 1759, returned home the following 
September, and on 11 December was unanimously appointed 
Professor of Oratory in the College and Academy, and was 
made an Assistant Minister at Christ Church. In 1762 he was 
again in England, and received Priest's Orders on 12 September. 
When Dr. Peters resigned in 1775 the Rectorship of Christ 
Church, in which he had succeeded Dr. Jenney, Mr. Duche was 
unanimously chosen Rector of the united churches of Christ 
Church and St. Peter's. He was an eloquent preacher, and a 
fervent reader of the liturgy. His interest in local politics was 
second only to that of his former Provost, and at the outbreak 
of the Revolution he took part with the patriots, and on 7 Sep- 
tember, 1774, was called upon to open the Continental Congress, 
meeting in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, with prayers, an event 



^ " Little is known of his early life except that he was a close student, a deep 
thinker and a man of great natural ability. He became prominent as a physician, 
soldier and linguist, and was Chief Burgess of Chester at the time of his death. He 
was made Professor of Languages in the College the year of his graduation, and sub- 
sequently became one of the most distinguished scholars of the colonies. His Latin 
compositions which were published gave him a wide reputation. His studious appli- 
cation impaired his health, and when General Forbes led the expedition against Fort 
Duquesne, he was appointed on May ii, T756, captain of the 3rd battalion of the 
Pennsylvania Regiment. The rugged life of a soldier restored his general health, 
and after the return of his regiment he attended the 'Royal Hospital.' and acquired 
his knowledge of medicine. He could not have received a regular degree as there 
were none conferred in the Colonies until 1768." Dr. J. L. Forwood in Proceedings 
Delatuare County Historical Society, 7 May, 1896. 



294 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

which forms one of the most striking pictures in the march of 
the Revokition. Samuel Adams wrote of this to his friend Dr. 
Warren : 

As many of our warmest friends are members of the Church of 
England, I thought it prudent, as well as on some other accounts, to move 
that the service should be performed by a clergyman of that denomination. 
Accordingly the lessons of the day and prayer were read by the Reverend 
Doctor Duche, who afterwards made a most excellent extemporary prayer, 
by which he discovered himself to be a gentleman of sense and piety, and 
a warm advocate for the religious and civil rights of America. 

John Adams wrote also and warmly of this to his wife : 

It seemed as if Heaven ordained thatPsahn to be read on that morn- 
ing [Psalm XXXV, being the opening Psalm in the Psalter appointed for 
the day of the month]. After this Mr Duche, unexpectedly to everybody, 
struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every 
man present. * * * Episcopalian as he is, Dr Cooper himself never 
prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in 
language so elegant and sublime, for America, for the Congress, for the 
province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. 

On II May, 1775, the second Congress meeting in the 
State House, Mr. Duche again " performed Divine Services," 
for which he was unanimously voted their thanks. Duche was 
present with his Vestry and presided at the meeting at his house^ 
on 4 July, 1776, when they requested the Rector and Assistant 
Ministers of the united churches to omit the petitions in the 
Liturgy for the King of Great Britain, as inconsistent with the 
action had by Congress resolving to declare the American 
Colonies to be free and independent States. On 8 July he 
was appointed Chaplain to Congress with a direction to attend 
on them every morning at nine o'clock, " in consideration of 
his piety, as well as his uniform and zealous attachment to the 
rights of America." This he resigned on 17 October. 

But when the British entered Philadelphia at the close of 
the following year, his heart failed him, and the beautiful picture 
of his devotion in 1775 and 1776 to his country became pain- 
fully marred, and was made significant by a weak letter to 
Washington, which the latter was charitable enough "to suppose 
was rather dictated by his fears than by his real sentiments." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 295 

This man devoted to the duties of his profession, faithful in all 
social relations, of a winning influence in the community, was yet 
without firmness in the hour of his country's trial, for which he 
had — strange inconsistency — offered such fervent prayers to 
Heaven. His brother-in-law Francis Hopkinson writes him : 

Our intimacy has been of a long duration, even from our early youth; 
long and uninterrupted without even a rub in the way; and so long have 
the sweetness of your manners and the integrity of your heart fixed my 
affections. 

In December following Duche sailed for England, and his 
wife and family followed in 1780. 

In 1779 Mr. Duche published two volumes of Sermons, 
and in time he received the appointment as Chaplain of the 
Asylum in St George's Fields. He sought a return to Phila- 
delphia at the close of the war, but it was not encouraged, as 
time alone could allay the bitter feelings aroused among his old 
people by his course in 1777. Yet when William White went 
to England for consecration in 1787 he sought out his former 
Rector and Pastor, who was present at Lambeth on 4 February 
to witness the consecration of White and Provoost, When he 
returned finally to Philadelphia, in May, 1792, he was the guest 
of Bishop White, during which time the latter arranged his visit 
to President Washington who had been apprised of it and con- 
sented to it. He died 3 January, 1798, and was buried in St. 
Peter's churchyard. Of his oratorical powers Bishop White 
records : 

The next best reader of the Prayers [after Whitefield], within the 
sphere of the acquaintance of the present writer, was a gentleman already 
mentioned under the head of preaching, the Rev. Mr. Duche. He was 
perhaps not inferior to Mr Whitefield in the correctness of his pronuncia- 
tion. His voice was remarkably sweet; although short of the voice of the 
other gentleman in the compass of its powers, and especially in modula- 
tion. Mr Duche was frequently oratorical in his sermons, but never so in 
the reading of the prayers; although always read by him with signs of 
unaffected seriousness and devotion.^ 



^ Comtnentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination, New York, 1833, p. 183; 
On his memorising his sermons, caused by near sightedness, v. p. 169. "The only 
clergyman here known to have derived advantage from memorising his sermons 



296 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

And as a tribute to his personal attractions, the Bishop further 
says, when speaking of his own consecration : 

The recollection of the benefit which I had received from his instruc- 
tions in early life, and a tender sense of the attentions which he had shown 
me almost from my infancy, together with the impressions left by the har- 
mony which had subsisted between us in the discharge of our joint pastoral 
duty in Philadelphia, being no improper accompaniments to the feelings 
suited to the present very interesting transaction of my life.^ 

Mr. Duche.was the first alumnus to enter the Trusteeship 
of his College, being elected 10 February, i76i,to fill the 
vacancy made by Mr. Martin's death. His attendance at the 
meetings was constant, and his counsel and influence must have 
been felt, for as pupil, tutor, and professor he was thoroughly 
informed as to the needs of the College and was ready at all 
times to further the plans of the Provost. The last meeting he 
attended was on 28 June, 1777 — from that date to 25 Septem- 
ber, 1778, " there were no regular meetings of the Board on 
account of the State of public affairs, nor any Minutes taken", 
as the city was then in possession of the British army. 

Francis Hopkinson was born Philadelphia on 21 September 
(o. s.), 1737, the son of Thomas Hopkinson, a Trustee of the Col- 
lege and Academy, a sketch of whose life has already been given 
in a preceding page. His talents for literature and music must 
early have displayed themselves, and his mother who had been 



adequate to the pains taken, was the late Rev Jacob Duche,of the City of Philadelphia. 
When he began his ministry in Christ Church of that city, his voice, his pronuncia- 
tion, and his action, were immediately subjects of great commendation ; but he had 
the disadvantage of nearness of sight. In a short time, however, he was observed to 
lay by, ahnost entirely, the help of his manuscript ; his notice of which, when it 
happened, became visible to the congregation; as he had to bring his face very near 
to the cushion on which his sermon lay. This amiable gentleman had a very extra- 
ordinary talent for that particular exercise of the memory, to which lie was thus incited. 
There are many still living who know with what ease he prepared himself in this 
department. And he has often been, heard to acknowledge, that it would have been 
generally impossible to him, a few days after the delivery of a sermon, to have recited 
a single paragraph of its contents. Certain it is, that he manifested no signs in the 
pulpit, of his being there puzzled in the work of recollection. And this circumstance, 
added to what has been said of his voice, and the praise due to the correctness of his 
action, made his delivery exceedingly pleasing." From " A Commentary on the 
Duties of the Public Ministry " in the Quarterly Theological Magazine, Philada, for 
January, 1814, p. 129. 

^Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church, New York. 1S36, p. 137. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 297 

left a widow when he was fourteen years of age, wisely continued 
him at the Academy, of which he was the first scholar, and in 
the course of his tuition there we have already seen what a 
prominent place he earned in all the public exercises. In his 
declamation of 1753, and his poem on the death of his fellow stu- 
dent, young Martin, in 1754, we see the beginnings "of those abili- 
ties which were carefully cultured to bear fruit to his good repu- 
tation in after years. Graduating in 1757, he took his Masters' 
Degree in 1760, and his musical attainments, added a charm to 
the services of the day. An organ had first been fitted up in 
the Hall by kind friends for the use of the College, and we are 
told 

one of the Students, who received his Master's Degree on this occasion, 
conducted the organ with that bold and masterly Hand, for which he is 
celebrated; and several of the Pieces were also his own Composition.* 

After graduation he began the study of Law under Benjamin 
Chew, Attorney General, and was admitted to the Bar in 1761. 
In 1759 he had become secretary of the Library Company, and 
was its Librarian from February 1764 to May 1765. He was 
also Secretary of the Vestry of the United Churches of Christ 
Church and St. Peters' in 1764—5, and was elected a Vestryman in 
1769, serving to 1773 when his residence in Trenton severed 
his connection with the church ; but resuming his residence in 
Philadelphia he was again elected Vestryman in 1788 serving 
thereon until his death. He displayed his talent in vocal and 
instrumental music by leading the choir and playing the organ in 
Christ Church, as well as teaching the children "in the art ofv 
psalmody," for which the Vestry recorded their thanks, 3 April, 
1764-' 

^ Penna Gazette, 15 May, 1760. 

^ He wrote to Dr Franklin, 13 December, 1765, " I visited your Family the 
Day before Yesterday & put Miss Sally's Harpsichord in the best order I can but the 
instrument, as to its Touch & all machinery, is entirely ruined & I think past Recovery 
* a * But we will talk more about this next Spring. I have finished the Trans- 
lation of the Psalms of David to the great Satisfaction of the Dutch Congregation at 
New York & they have paid me ;i^i45, their currency, which I intend to keep as a 
Body Reserve in case I should go to England." MS letter in the American Philo- 
sophical Society's Collection. The work referred to was " The Psalms of David with 
The Ten Commandments. Creed, Lord's Prayer, &c In Meter. Also the Csftechism, 
•Confession of Faith, Liturgy, &c, translated from the Dutch For the use of the 
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of the City of New York." New York. Printed 
by James Parker at the New Printing Office in Beaver Street, MDCCLXVI. 



298 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

An opportunity offering for a visit to England, he sailed 
thither in May, 1766. An affectionate tribute to his merits were 
given before his sailing by the Trustees, which would serve him 
as a special academic letter of credit in his proposed travels ; 
before separating from the Commencement exercises of 20 May, 
1766, their Minutes recite : 

After the Business of the Commencement was finished, it was resolved, 
that as Francis Hopkinson, Esqr, (who was the first Scholar entered in this 
Seminary and its opening, and likewise one of the first who received a 
Degree) was about to embark for England, and has done Honour to the 
Place of his Education by his abilities and good morals, as well as ren- 
dered it inany substantial Services on all public occasions, the Thanks of 
this Institution ought to be delivered to him in the most aflectionate and 
respectable manner. And Mr Stedman and the Provost are desired to 
communicate the same to Mr. Hopkinson accordingly and to wish him a 
safe and prosperous Voyage. 

In London, which he reached late in July, he expected to 
meet Franklin, his father's friend, but the latter was then in 
Germany. In intercourse with the Bishop of Worcester his rela- 
tive and with Benjamin West in London, he passed many happy 
days ''and remained in that city until June, 1767. He returned 
home in August following. Marrying in 1768 a daughter of 
Joseph Borden, jr., of Bordentown, he resided half of the year 
at that place, until his interests grew there and those in Phila- 
delphia lessened, and in 1774 was called to a seat in the Pro- 
vincial Council of New Jersey. But the current for Liberty took 
him along, and he threw himself into the movement for inde- 
pendence, and became a member from New Jersey of the new 
Congress, and on 2 July, 1776, voted in favor of the Resolution 



^He writes thence to Dr. Franklin from 

" Hartlebury Castle, May 31st, 1767. 
" My dear Sir 

" I have once more the Pleasure of writing to you from this delightful Place;, 
where, I thank God, I enjoy perfect Health and all the Pleasures the Country can 
afford. Time rolls away in the most agreeable Manner imaginable : Reading, walk- 
ing, riding, Music, Drawing, &c, season the Hours with much calm and rational 
Pleasure ; and to crown all, the good Bishop and Mr. Johnson treat me with all 
possible Affection and Kindness. Yet after all (such is my Partiality for dear Philada. 
and my Friends there) that I must say it is with great Delight I look forward to the 
Time of my Embarkation." Addressed " Dr Franklin, at Mr .Stevenson's Craven 
Street, London." MS. letter in the American Philosophical Society Collection. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 299 

for Independence. '' When the British sought revenge in the 
Jerse3^s by destroying the houses of the principal Whigs, when 
their movement in Philadelphia by that course proved a failure, 
and in which the Borden Mansion fell a victim to the flames, 
Hopkinson's house was also fired, but escaped destruction in a 
singular manner. It is related that Captain Ewald, a Hessian 
officer, who was in command of the party of British employed in 
firing the houses, entering Hopkinson's was amazed to find his 
library filled with scientific apparatus in addition to the books on 
the walls ; and picking up a volume of Provost Smith's Dis- 
courses, he wrote in his Mother tongue, "This man was one of 
the greatest rebels, nevertheless, if we dare to conclude from 
the Library, and Mechanical and Mathematical Instruments, he 
must have been a very learned man ; " and he spared the house 
from the flames. 

He was at Bordentown when the melancholy tidings 
reached him of Duche's defection, and thence he wrote to him 
his letter of wounded affection and yet patriotic scorn, which he 
sent under cover to Gen. Washington : 

The Intimacy of my connection with Mr Duche renders all assurance 
unnecessary that the letter addressed by him to your Excellency on the 8th 
of October last year gives me the greatest concern. ■«■ * •» i would not 
forbear communicating some of my sentiments to him on this occasion. 
These I might probably have been able to convey to him by secret means, 
but did not chuse to incur the imputation of a clandestine correspondence. 
I have therefore taken the liberty to send the enclosed letter to you unsealed 
for your perusal. Resting it entirely on your judgement to cause it to [be} 
forwarded or not. ■» * * The occasion is a very interesting one to me. 
My friendship for Mr Duche calls upon me to do all I can to warn him 
against the fatal consequences of his ill-advised step, that he may if possi- 
ble do something to avert them before it is too late. 

But the letter never reached its destination, Washington 
writing him 27 January, 1778 : 



' It was shortly after this he and John Adams met ; the latter writing to his 
wife from Philadelphia 21 August, 1776, says : " I met Mr Francis Hopkinson, late 
a Mandamus Counsellor of New Jersey, now a member of the Continental Congress, 
who, it seems is a native of Philadelphia, a son of a prothonotary of this county, who 
is a person much respected. The son was liberally educated, and is a painter and a 
poet. I may possibly give you some more particulars concerning him." Letters to 
his Wife, Boston, 1S41, i. 157. 



300 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Having never found an opportunity of conveying the Letter which 
you sometime ago sent me for Mr Uuche, by such a channel as I thought 
would reach him, I return it to you again. 

In September, 1776, Hopkinson was appointed Third 
Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. This he held 
until he accepted the Treasurership of the Continental Loan 
Office, an office under Congress. From this he became Judge 
of the Admiralty by appointment of President Reed of Penn- 
sylvania, and was 16 July, 1779, commissioned thereto, thus 
filling an office honorably occupied by his Father nearly thirty 
before. In September, 1789, Washington appointed him United 
States Judge for the District of Pennsylvania. In the Constitu- 
tional Convention of 1787 he was an active and able partici- 
pant, and with his zeal and force aided in its final adoption. 

His political influence was largely aided by his skillful pen, 
which was of a genial cast while witty and pungent, and the 
cultivation of measured verses in early youth stood him in good 
stead when he wanted to hold up to ridicule the Tory cause. 
His Pretty Story, 1774, his Political Catechism of 1777, his 
Battle of the Kegs in 1777, his Neiu Roof of 1787, and other 
pieces make his valuable contribution to the political literature 
■of the times. But with softer strains his poetic qualities showed 
themselves in hymns and domestic ballads, and his musical 
talent found exercise in the composition of hymn tunes which 
are to this day familiar to our ears. His Miscellancmis Essays 
and Occasional Writings were published in Philadelphia in 1793, 
" in the dress in which he left them." Thomas I. Wharton wrote 
of him, " a poet, a wit, a patriot, a chemist, a mathematician, 
and a judge of the admiralty j * * * with the humor of 
Swift and Rabelais, he was always found on the side of virtue 
and social order." John Adams wrote to his wife 21 August, 
1776: 

I have a curiosity to penetrate a little deeper into the bosom of this 
curious gentleman. He is one of your pretty, little, curious, ingenou s 
men. His head is not bigger than a large apple, less than our friend 
Pemberton or Dr. Simon Tuft. I have not met with anything in natural 
history more amusing and entertaining than his personal appearance yet 
he is genteel, and well bred, and is very social. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 301 

A condescending encomium from the Boston visitor, whO' 
now in the metropolis for the first time met different types of 
men hitherto unknown to his observation. ^ 

Francis Hopkinson died suddenly, of apoplexy, on 9 May, 
1 79 1. His son Joseph, a graduate of 1786, is known as the 
author of Hail Columbia, our patriot song. His sister Elizabeth 
was the wife of Rev, Jacob Duche ; and Mary, of Dr. John 
Morgan, both his fellow graduates. His brother Thomas was a 
graduate of 1766 and later entered the ministry of the Church 
of England. Four generations of Hopkinsons, in lineal 
descent, adorn the hst of graduates of the institution which their 
ancestor the first Thomas Hopkinson aided in founding. 

James Latta was a native of Ireland, of Scotch-Irish Stock, 
and was born in 1732. His mother was an Alison, a relative of 
Dr. Francis Alison. His parents came to this country when he 
was about six years of age and settled near Elkton, Maryland. 
He was placed at school to his kinsman. Dr. Alison, at New 
London, Pennsylvania ; and shortly after the latter went to Phila- 
delphia in 1752 to begin his work at the Academy, young Latta 
followed him thither and completing his course there graduated 
with honor in the class of 1757.^ Before the completion of his 
course he was, like Williamson, employed as Tutor by the 
Trustees : he and his classmate " having alternately supplied the 
Place of one Usher in the Latin School from the 13 June until 
the I November [1755] be paid after the rate of Sixty Pounds 
per Annum for their attendance during the above Term, and 
that their future salaries be ascertained at the next meeting of 
the Trustees." He continued Tutor after his graduation to the 
end of the year 1759, and when Mr. Jones left, in July 1758, he 
was appointed to succeed him as Clerk to the Trustees. He was 
pursuing meanwhile his studies for the Ministry, and on 15 



^ Letters to his Wife. Ibid. 

* Minutes of Dec. 1755. Dr. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit gives 
a letter from a relative of Dr. Latta stating that he had the Salutatory oration in 
Latin at the Commencement; but the publication of Paul Jackson's Latin Salutatory 
with the Provost's charge disposes of this statement. 



302 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

February, 1758, he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of 
Philadelphia. His connection with the College ceased in 
November, 1759, when the Synod directed him to go on a mis- 
sion to the destitute settlements in Virginia and North Carolina, 
he having been ordained a few weeks before. In 1761 he was 
installed as Pastor of the congregation at Deep Run, Bucks 
County, Pennsylvania. He left this in 1770 for the pastoral 
care of Chestnut Level, in Lancaster County, and was there 
installed in November, 1771. He here added the care of a 
school to his many duties, for which he was well fitted by his 
training in the College. During the revolutionary war, it is said 
he accompanied a Pennsylvania regiment in one campaign as 
chaplain. He was alive to all the controversies in his church 
during these years of trial, and an active participant in them, and 
was generally on the side of progress. When the subject of 
introducing Dr. Watt's Psalms and Hymns into public worship 
disturbed the traditions of many of the congregations, he advo- 
cated the new Psalmody, and in the controversy issued a pam- 
phlet of one hundred and eight pages in defense of the new 
practice ; it is said this was the only work he ever published. 
The Degree of D.D. was proposed for him by the Trustees in 
1799; that he accepted the Degree about that period is a fact 
well sustained, yet his name does not appear on the roll of any 
other College ; but as we have the record of its proposal, it is 
right to assume it was formerly conferred upon him, though we 
fail to find record of its consummation. He died 29 January, 
1 80 1, aged J J years. He married about the year 1765, Miss 
Mary M'Calla of Deep Run. Of his children there were four 
sons, all of whom entered the ministry ; of these three were 
graduates of the University, Francis Alison in 1790, William, 
1794, and John Ewing in 1795. Dr. Samuel Martin's Memoir 
of him, says : 

Dr Latta was remarkably well qualified. Without severity, he had 
the faculty of governing well. He possessed the happy talent of making 
his pupils both fear and love him. * * * As a scholar, too, he had 
few equals ; his erudition was general and profound. Such were his known 
abilities, and such his reputation as an instructor, that when any of his 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 303 

pupils were sent to the University over which the late Dr Ewing presided, 
who has been so deservedly famed as a scholar, they were always received 
without examination. It was sufficient to know they had received their 
education with Dr Latta * * * it was indeed almost impossible to be 
long in his company without being both pleased and improved. Both old 
and young were fond of his society. When paying a visit to any of his 
people, it was pleasing to see the youth gather around him to enjoy his 
conversation. * -h- * He was conscientious in the discharge of every 
duty. And with such dignity did he support the sacred office which he 
bore, that there was scarce ever an instance of any person conducting him- 
self profanely or rudely in his presence. 

Samuel Magaw was born in 1735, the same year with his 
classmates Morgan and Williamson. We know little of his 
early life. Graduating in 1757, he received his Master's degree 
from the College in 1760. He soon made preparations for the 
ministry, and with John Andrews of the class of 1765, the 
Provost of 18 10, he went to England for Orders, bearing a letter 
from Provost Smith dated 13 November, 1766, introducing them 
to the Bishop of London : "I cannot now let the Bearers, Mr. 
Samuel Magaw and Mr. John Andrews go without a few lines. 
They were educated and graduated under me and I hope in 
Examination will do credit to our College." On 18 December, 
Dr. Smith wrote: "My last to your Lordship was by Mr. 
Andrews and Mr. Magaw, both educated in our College, since 
which another Mr. Edmiston^" educated with them has sailed 
from Maryland on the same errand. I hope it will appear to your 
Lordship that they are all well grounded in their education. "^^ 
Magaw and Andrews were ordained Deacons, 2 February, 1767 
in St. James' Chapel,! Westminster, by the Bishop of St. Davids' 



10 u William Edmiston, class of 1759. He was ordained 15 March, 1767, and 
priest on the 29th at St. James, Westminster, by the Bishop of Oxford, acting for the 
Bishop of London. On his return to Philadelphia he did not at once present his 
letters in Maryland, owing to the hesitation of the colonial authorities in accepting 
the Bishop of London's licenses. See Bishop White's reference to tfeis, Memoirs, 
p. 19. He became Rector of St. Ann's, Annapolis, and later of St. George's, 
Spesutia ; but his Tory activities lost him the latter and in September, 1775, he went 
to England. Dr. Ethan Allen's Historical Notes of St. Ann's Parish^ p. 79. The 
name is variously spelled, Edmiston, Edminston, Edmonson. 

1^ Perry's Historical Collections, ii. 412, 4I3. Smith, i. 403. 



304 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

and Priests on the 15th of the same month by the Bishop 
of London. Returning, Magaw was a missionary of the Society 
for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts at Dover 
and its vicinity, Delaware. He became Rector of St. Paul's 
Church, Philadelphia, in January 1781, in which duty he con- 
tinued until 1804 when he was succeeded by Dr. Pilmore. He 
was elected Vice-Provost of the University of the State of 
Pennsylvania in 1782, but his functions ceased when the merger 
was made into the University of Pennsylvania, in 1791, Dr. 
Andrews then becoming Vice-Provost and Provost in 1910. Dr. 
Magaw took an active part in the various Assemblies of his 
Church in Pennsylvania, in Conventions and Societies ; and 
held a conspicuous place in all their deliberations ; and pub- 
lished some Sermons, one of which was preached at the open- 
ing of St. Thomas' Church for Colored People in 1794. "In the 
latter part of his time he became deaf and was retired. He was 
a man above the average, of great ability and learning." He 
died I December, 18 12. He left behind him a memory of 
amiability in deportment and faithfulness in the discharge of all 
his duties. 

John Morgan, was born in Philadelphia in 1736. His father 
was a near neighbor of Franklin's. His early education devel- 
oped in him a great aptitude to study. He acquired the rudi- 
ments of his classical learning at the Nottingham Academy of 
Dr. Finley's, who was afterward President of Princeton College ; 
and entering as one of the first pupils of the Academy in Phila- 
delphia he graduated in 1757. During the last year of his 
attendance here, he pursued his medical studies under Dr. John 
Redman. Desirous of surgical practice in the field, he was 
commissioned lieutenant and surgeon of the Provincial Troops, 
and served against the French and Indians until 1760. Taking 
his Master's Degree at the College in this year, he went to 
Europe to pursue yet further his medical studies. He passed 
some years abroad, attending for two years the Lectures at the 
University of Edinburgh, taking his degree there in 1763, 
While in London attendinsr the Lectures of Dr. William Hunter 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 305 

he was in intimate acquaintance with Dr. Franklin, and on his 
going to Edinburgh he bore a letter from him to Lord Kames, 
dated London, November, 1761, in which he says : 

May I take the freedom of recommending the bearer, Mr Morgan, to 
your Lordship's protection. He purposes residing some time in Edinburgh, 
to improve himself in the study of physic, and I think will one day make 
a good figure in the profession, and be of some credit to the school he 
studies in, if great industry and application, joined with natural genius and 
sagacity, afford any foundation for the presage. He is the son of a friend 
and near neighbor of mine in Philadelphia, so that I have known him from 
a child, and am confident the same excellent dispositions, good morals, 
and prudent behavior, that have procured him the esteem and affection of 
all that knew him in his own country, will render him not unworthy the 
regard, advice, and countenance your Lordship may be so good as to afford 
him. 

Dr. Morgan from Edinburgh went to Paris, and there 
passed a winter, still enlarging his medical studies, and after- 
wards traveled in Holland and Italy. Upon his return to Lon- 
don he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was 
admitted a licentiate of the College of Physicians in London, 
and a member of the College of Physicians in Edinburgh, and 
had been admitted to membership in the Society of Belles 
Lettres in Rome. 

Thus furnished by study and travel, and with the earlier 
field hospital service, he returned to Philadelphia in 1765. He 
had written from London in November, 1764, to Dr. Cullen : 
" My scheme of instituting lectures you will hereafter know 
more of It is not prudent to broach designs prematurely, and 
mine are not yet fully ripe for execution." These he had talked 
over with the younger William Shippen, his schoolmate at Not- 
tingham, when they were a year or more together in Edinburgh. ^^ 
Shippen had returned home in May, 1762, and in the autumn 
of that year began his private course of lectures, his introductory 



^'^ Dr. Shippen in his letter to the Trustees of 17 September, 1765. says: "I 
should have long since sought the Patronage of the Trustees of the College, but 
waited to be joined by Dr. Morgan, to whom I first communicated my plan in Eng- 
land." 



3o6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

being delivered in the State House. ^^ His courses proved to be 
the introductory to the larger scheme of Dr. Morgan which 
became the Medical School of the College and Academy of 
Philadelphia. Dr. Morgan had formed his plans maturely, and 
upon the counsel and advice of his friends abroad. He arrived 
home early in 1765, and at a Special Meeting of the Trustees 
called for 3 May, 1765, there attended among others both the 
Doctors Bond, Dr. Cadvvalader, and Dr. Redman, now a Trustee 
and Morgan's old preceptor, when the following letter was read 
from the Proprietary. This letter, with its wise recommenda- 
tions seems the herald of the new Medical Department, in the 
account of which it may properly belong, yet it is so full of per- 
sonal references to the young Surgeon who had taken counsel 
with Governor Penn on the subject so near his heart, that it 
seems to belong in a sketch of his life. 

Gentlemen. 

Doctor Morgan has laid before me a Proposal for introducing new Pro- 
fessorships into the College for the Instruction of all such as shall incline to 
go into the Study and Practice of Physick and Surgery, as well as the 
several Occupations attending upon these necessary and useful Arts. 

He thinks his scheme, if patronized by the Trustees, will at present 
give Reputation and Strength to the Institution, and tho' it may for some 
Time occasion a small Expence, yet after a little while it will gradually 
support itself, and even make considerable additions to the Academy 
Funds. 

Dr Morgan has employed his Time in an assiduous Search after 
Knowledge, in all the Branches necessary for the Practice of his Profession, 
and has gained such Esteem and Love from Persons of the first Rank in it, 
that as they very much approve his Plan, they will, from Time to Time, as 
he assures us, give him their Countenance and Assistance in the Execution 
of it. 

We are made acquainted with what is proposed to be taught, and his 
Lectures may be adopted by you, and since the like Systems have brought 
much Advantage to every Place where they have been received, and such 
Learned and eminent Men speak favorably of the Doctor's Plan, I could 
not but in the most kind manner recommend him to you, and desire that 
he may be well received, and what he has to offer be taken, with all becom- 
ing Respect and Expedition, into your most serious Consideration ; and if 



i^See his announcement in the Pennsylvania Gazette li November, 1762, of 
beginning "a course of anatomical Lectures" on 18 November. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 307 

it shall be thought necessary to go into it, and thereupon to open Professor- 
ships, that he may be taken into your service. 

When you have heard him, and duly considered what he has to lay 
before you, you will be best able to judge in what Manner you can serve 
the Public, the Institution, and the particular Design now recommended to 
you. I am 

Gentlemen 
London Feb 15, 1765 Your very affectionate Friend 

Thomas Penn 
To the Trustees of the 
College &c of Philada 

Dr. Morgan also presented a letter to the same effect " by 
two worthy Trustees of this College now in England, viz.: The 
Hon'ble James Hamilton, Esqr. and the Revd Mr. Richard 
Peters." And 

The above Letters and Proposals being duly weighed, and the Trustees 
entertaining a high sense of Dr Morgan' s Abilities, and the Honors paid to 
him by different Learned Bodies and Societies in Europe, they unanimously 
appointed Him Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physick in this 
College. 

Thus was created the Medical Department of the College, 
which has literally fulfilled Thomas Penn's words in giving 
" Reputation and Strength to the Institution." The history of 
this important department is elsewhere given, and while to it 
probably belongs the official life of Dr. Morgan which adorned it, 
we must pass on to a recital of other events in his life in which 
he served the community and his friends ; first noting that 
at the commencement of that year, viz. on 30 May, at the 
" Forenoon's Exercises " came "the first Part of Dr, Morgan's 
inaugural oration," and " the weather being very warm, the 
remainder was adjourned to Friday Forenoon, 31 May," and 
" Dr. Morgan then printed the remainder of his learned and 
elaborate oration." This was entitled " A Discourse upon the 
Institution of Medical Schools in America," and was published by 
WiHiam Bradford ; it was a significant and bold venture for a 
young man of but twenty-nine years to enter upon in the new 
country, but his faith and courage fitted him to the duty, " and 



3o8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

hope assured success." ^* At the meeting of 23 September 
following a letter from his friend Shippen was read, applauding 
their action in so promptly meeting Dr. Morgan's views and 
scheme and stating to them " a Professorship of Anatomy and 
Surgery would be gratefully accepted by him," to which they 
unanimously appointed him. Thus were the two friends united 
in a congenial work in a public institution, fulfilling their plans 
as they talked them over during the interval of their Edinburgh 
studies. William Shippen, an alumnus of Princeton in 1754,^^ 
had not the claim, though a Philadelphian, upon the College and 
the Academy of this city that its own John Morgan had, who 
came with his proposition endorsed by the highest civil influence 
known to the province. The location of Morgan's Alma Mater 
in the largest city of the colonies enabled it to utilize his prac- 
tical schemes and secure for itself the honorable distinction o 
organizing a Medical Department in advance of other kin- 
dred institutions ; but Shippen contributed ideas from his 
own well stored brain and trained mind, thoughts and sug- 
gestions which helped to nourish the new Department, and it 
was but just that Princeton should furnish its second Pro- 
fessor. 

Dr. Morgan tells us when he returned from Europe, he 
departed from the customary practice, and was the first 
physician who restricted himself to simply prescribing for the 
sick. And he writes : 

As far as I can learn everybody approves of my plan for instituting 
medical schools, and I have the honor of being appointed a public pro- 
fessor for teaching physic in the College here. Can any man, the least 
acquainted with the nature of that arduous task, once imagine it possible 



1* A Discourse Upon the Institution of Medical Schools in America ; Deliv- 
ered at a Public Anniversary Commencemettt held in the College of Philadelphia 
May 30 and ^i, 1765. IVith a Preface Containing among other things the Author's 
Apology for attempting to introduce the regular mode of practising physic in Phila- 
delphia. By John Motgan, M. D. : Fellow of the Royal Society at London ; 
Correspondent of the Royal Academy of Surgery at Paris ; Member of the Arcadian 
Belles Lettres Society at Rome ; Licentiate of the Royal College of. Physicians in 
London and in Edinburgh; and Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in 
the College of Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by William Bradford 
at the corner of Market and Profit Streets MDCCLXV. 

^^ And a classmate there of Provost Ewing. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 309 

for me to acquit myself in that station in an honorable or useful manner, 
and yet be engaged in one continued round of practice in surgery and 
pharmacy as well as physic? * * * My usefulness as a professor 
makes it absolutely necessary for me to follow that method of practice 
which alone appears to be calculated to answer that end. 

Medical science alone did not occupy his activities. He 
was an interested member of the American Philosophical 
Society. When the Trustees sought for funds from the learned 
and the educated in the West Indies, Dr. Morgan was their 
ambassador, and a very successful voyage he made thither, 
which will have more particular notice when our narrative 
reaches that period. 

In October, 1775, Congress appointed him Director in Gen- 
eral and Physician in Chief to the General Hospital of the 
American army, and he at once proceeded to Cambridge, and 
from thence back to New York. His reforming spirit in admin- 
istration was far in advance of the times, and he could not 
overcome the crowding difficulties of his Medical Bureau, due 
to inexperience and a clinging to former ways ; clamors arose, 
to which Congress responded by removing him in 1777 ; but 
on a subsequent examination by Congress, all the complaints 
were found entirely without foundation, and an honorable 
acquittal of all the charges made against him rendered. 

He died in Philadelphia 15 October, 1789, and was buried in 
St. Peter's Church. It was the year of his return from Europe 
and of appointment as Professor, that he married Mary Hopkin- 
son, the sister of his classmate Francis Hopkinson, whose 
elder sister Elizabeth had married six years previously, 
another classmate, Jacob Duche. 

Hugh Williamson, of Scotch-Irish parentage, was born 
in Nottingham Township, Chester County, Penn., 5 December, 
1735. His early education was pursued under Dr. Alison's care 
at New London, and when that able preceptor became a pro- 
fessor in the Philadelphia Academy his parents sent him thither. 
His proficiency earned him a Tutorship as early as July, 1755, in 
which he continued the remainder of his Collegfe life. His father 



3IO History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

died the year of his graduation; and the family having previous 
to this moved to Shippensburgh, WilHamson made this his resi- 
dence until 1759 when he went to Connecticut to prosecute his 
theological studies, where he was licensed to preach, and afterwards 
returning to Pennsylvania was admitted a member of the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia. His health however was not robust ; 
and he was unable to undertake any stated ministerial duty. 
We find him again resuming his connection with his College. 
At the meeting of the Trustees on 13 January, 1761, 

the President acquainted the Trustees that notwithstanding that repeated 
advertisements had been published in the Gazette of the want of a Pro- 
fessor of Mathematics in the Academy, and he had wrote to some of his 
acquaintances in the other Colonies to enquire if there was any fit person, 
and that Dr. Smith had likewise made enquiry in Maryland, and Dr 
Alison at Boston and other Places thro' which they had travelled in the 
Vacation, yet no one properly qualified could be heard of. In this exigency 
Dr. Smith had wrote to the Rev'd Hugh Williamson one of the late Ushers 
in the Latin School (who was known to have made a considerable Progress 
in the Mathematics, and being lately ordained among the Dissenters yet 
at present was not in the Exercise of his Function) to know if he would 
undertake the Care of that School, upon which Letter he now waited upon 
the Trustees and made a tender of his services, which were accepted 
and in case he should upon tryal give Satisfaction, he is to receive One 
Hundred and Twenty five pounds per annum to commence from the Day 
on which he shall take the Charge of the School. 

In this duty he continued less than three years, and at the 
meeting of 8 November, 1763 : 

desiring admittance he came in and acquainted the Trustees that he could 
not continue much longer in the care of the Mathematical School, having 
disposed of himself some other way, he requested they would as soon as 
conveniently they could, provide a Master for it. 

And action was had looking to this provision, at the meet- 
ing of 13 December " Professor Williamson still expressing a 
desire to be dismissed." But he filled out the College term, 
and parted from his duties 10 May, 1764. His mathematical 
and other studies made no obstacle to his engaging with interest 
in provincial politics ; and having his interest enlisted on the 
Proprietaries' side, probably from sympathy with the Provost's 
views, he replied on their behalf in a pamphlet to Franklin's 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 3 1 1 

Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of our Ptiblic Affairs 
published early in 1764, the year when a crisis seemed to be con- 
summating between the two opposing and heated parties. But 
Williamson was himself one of " the proprietaries' new allies; 
the Presbyterian Clergy of Philadelphia," who feared that the 
substitution of a Royal Government for that of the Proprie- 
taries which was now sought by the popular party would bring a 
State church into the province, and openly took the ground that 
the change would be the ruin of the province, ^^ and what was 
denied to him in public speaking or preaching, he yet could 
ably set forth his views by his pen. And this rejoinder was 
followed by the subsequent contribution to the political litera- 
ture of the times. 

In the same year Wilhamson crossed the ocean in order 
to pursue medical studies at the University of Edinburgh and 
on the Continent. He remained abroad for two ^^ years, and 
returning to Philadelphia, began the practice of medicine, his 
health not permitting any stated ministerial duties. His attain- 
ments in science were great, and he was one of a committee, of 
whom also were David Rittenhouse, Provost Smith, Dr. Ewing, 
and Charles Thomson, appointed by the American Philosophical 
Society to make observations of the transit of Venus on 3 June, 
1769, and the same committee was instructed also to view the 
transit of Mercury on 3 November of the same year. The 
reports of these observations, in which Williamson as a mathe- 
mation had a large share, are given in the first volume of 



1^ Franklin in his Preface to Galloway's Speech, Bigelow, iii. 310. William- 
son's pamphlet was entitled " The Plain Dealer, Number il, Being a Tickler for the 
leisure Hours' Amusement of the Author of Cool Thoughts, Wherein the Tone of 
his several Arguments in Favour of a change of Government is stated in a clear 
Light and accomodated to the Comprehension of Readers of every Capacity. By 
X. Y. Z. Gentleman." In Dr. Smith's preface to John Dickinson's speech he gave 
a very eulogistic Epitaph on William Penn. In Franklin's preface to Galloway's 
speech, he burlesqued this and applied it to Richard and Thomas Penn. This' in 
turn gave rise to Williamson's later pamphlet: "What is Sauce for the Goose 
is also Sauce for a Gander, Being A small Touch in the Lapidary Way, or Tit 
for Tat, in your own Way. An Epitaph on a certain great Man. Written by a 
Departed Spirit and now most inscrib'd to all his dutiful Sons and Children, who 
may hereafter chose to distinguish him by the name of A Patriot." Bibliography of 
Franklin, Ford, 393. 

1'' With Capt Falconer from London, came passenger Hugh Williamson, M. 
D. belonging to this Place. Penna Gazette, II Dec, 1766. 



312 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the Transactions of the Society and afforded valuable inform- 
ation to the foreign correspondents of the Society. In 1770, 
Dr. Williamson published through the same channel some obser- 
vations on the change of climate which had been remarked 
within a range of years to have taken place in the middle colonies 
of North America. This and other scientific investigations of 
his brought him the notice of foreign savants, and his medical 
alma mater, Utrecht, made him Doctor of Laws in 1772, and 
he was made a member of the Holland Society of Sciences, and 
the Society of Arts and Sciences of Utrecht. 

In 1772 he undertook a voyage to the West Indies to 
raise funds for the Academy at Newark, Delaware, the suc- 
cessor of Dr Alison's school of which in early life he had been 
a pupil, and of which he was a Trustee ; and in the year fol- 
lowing in company with his co-Trustee, Rev, Dr. Ewing, after- 
wards Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, he made a 
tour through Great Britain on the same errand, and in this duty 
they remained together until the autumn of 1775, but William- 
son did not return home with Ewing. He then travelled through 
Holland and the Low Countries, but when the news of Ameri- 
can Independence reached him, he retraced his steps and 
reached Philadelphia in March, 1777. The story which had 
credence for a number of years that it was through his agency 
the Hutchinson letters were procured for Franklin who sent 
them to Massachusetts, and which is yet frequently repeated, is 
contradicted by the fact that Dr. Williamson, at the time of Dr. 
Franklin sending those Letters, namely in December, 1 772, was 
at the time in the West Indies, and he did not sail for England as 
stated above until December, 1773 ; the ship he sailed in from 
Boston lay in the harbor ready for sail, when the famed Tea 
Party took place on that eventful night of 16 December, and 
he was the first one to communicate to the British Government 
the tidings of this decisive destruction of the East India Com- 
pany's cargoes of tea. 

On Dr. Williamson's return to Pennsylvania, no opportunity 
appeared open for the pursuit of his profession, and turning his face 
southward he engaged in mercantile pursuits ; but his medical 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 3 1 3 

reputation brought to him in the winter of 1779-80 the appoint- 
ment of chief of the medical department of the North CaroHna 
troops; he was present at the Battle of Camden 18 August, 
1780, and under a flag of truce entered the enemy's lines to 
attend to the wounded when the regimental surgeons declined 
the duty. In 1782 he became a member, from Edenton, of 
the North Carolina Assembly. In 1787, he was one of the 
delegates from that State to the Convention which framed the 
Constitution which met in Philadelphia ; and he was a member 
of the first Congress which met in New York in 1787, and it 
was while here he married Maria, daughter of Charles Ward 
Apthorpe, formerly a member of the Provincial Council of New 
York, In 18 12, appeared his History of North Carolina in 
two volumes, printed in Philadelphia. Much of his time after 
this was passed in New York. He lived to a great age, not- 
withstanding his early debility and in despite of an unusually 
active and busy life in the wanderings of a cosmopolite, and 
died in New York, 22 May, 18 19. At the close of that year 
his friend Dr. Hosack was appointed to read a Biographical 
Memoir of Williamson before the New York Historical Society ; 
he describes him as 

no less distinguished for the manliness of his form, than for the energy 
and firmness of his mind. Dr. Williamson in his person was tall, consid- 
erably above the general standard, of a large frame, well proportioned, 
but of a thin habit of body. He was remarkable for his erect, dignified 
carriage, which he retained even in the decline of life. * * * His 
style both in conversation and in writing, was simple, concise, perspic- 
uous and remarkable for its strength ; always displaying correctness of 
thought and logical precision. In the order, too, and disposal of his dis- 
course, whether oral or written, such was the close connexion of its parts, 
and the dependence of one proposition upon that which preceded it, that 
it became easy to discern the influence of his early predilection for mathe- 
matical investigation . * * * Whatever be the merits of Dr. William- 
son as a scholar, a physician, a statesman, or philosopher ; however he 
may be distinguished for his integrity, his benevolence, and those virtues 
which enter into the moral character of man ; he presents to the world 
claims of a still higher order. The lovers of truth and virtue will admire 
much more than his literary endowments, that regard for religious duty, of 
which, under all circumstances and in all situations, he exhibited so 
eminent an example. 



314 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XLIV. 

The commencement of 1757, with all the satisfaction 
and pleasure it brought to its participants, had one shadow, 
which however did not show itself at once. The Provost's 
signature to the diplomas was thought sufficient to give them 
force, and this appeared to be the intent of the Charter of 1755, 
where it was 

Ordained, That the Provost, vice provost, or other person appointed 
as aforesaid, shall make, and with his name, sign diplomas or certificates 
of the admission to such degree or degrees, which shall be sealed with the 
public seal of the said corporation, and delivered to the graduates as hon- 
ourable and perpetual testimonials thereof. 

But at the Trustees' meeting of 14 June, the Vice-Provost 
Alison, and Professors Kinnersley, Grew and Jackson "petitioned 
they might be allowed to join with the Provost in signing the 
College Diplomas," as follows:^ 

Gentlemen. The Custom as far as we know or can learn has univer- 
sally obtained in other Colleges, both in Europe and America, of granting 
Diplomas or honourable Certificates, signed as well by all the Professors 
as by the Provost or President. The Initiation of this generally received 
Mode in the Diplomas to be granted in this College will, we humbly con- 
ceive, be more satisfactory to the graduates, who will no doubt chuse to 
carry with them the most express and ample Proofs of the Respect and 
approbation of every Professor belonging to the Institution ; more reputable 
to the Vice Provost and Professors to whom it may be of some advantage 
to be known in a Way that will carry the least appearance of Vanity or 
ostentation, and more honourable and useful to the Institution itself as the 
Number of Professors employed in it and their names, if at any Time they 
should be Men of Merit and Reputation, which it is not unreasonable to 
suppose, may be of service to engage the Notice of People in Distant Parts 
and by that means to add to the Number of Students. We therefore the 
Vice Provost and Professors of this College and Academy humbly petition 
the Trustees to grant us by a Law the Privilege of joining with the Provost 
in signing the College Diplomas. 



1 Francis Hopkinson's diploma bears the autographs of the Provost, Vice 
Provost, and the other three professors ; if the Provost's was originally given alone, 
and thus became the occasion of the petitions, this action of the Trussees may have 
secured the subsequent affixing the signatures of the others. The appearance of this 
document seems to give color to this suggestion. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 315 

This was referred to Messrs. Chew and Stedman for their 
opinion, to be given at the next meeting, and on 12 July their 
Report was : 

The Committee on considering the Charter conceive that by the said 
Charter it is not necessary that Diplomas should be signed by any more 
of the Faculty than the Provost. Yet as they may receive additional 
Weight and Credit by being signed by the whole Faculty, and no Mischief 
or Inconvenience, that we apprehend can arise from such a Proceeding, we 
are of Opinion, that the whole Faculty should on this occasion be admitted 
to sign with the Provost. 

This discreet and equitable report was 

read and referred to the next Meeting of the Trustees, in Consequence 
thereof Mr Smith requested a Copy of the Petition, which the clerk was 
desired to make out and deliver to him as soon as it may be convenient. 

But no action was reached until the meeting of 23 December, 
when 

the Report of the Committee upon the Propriety of Diplomas being signed 
by the whole Faculty, entered on the Minutes of 12th of July last, is 
approved by the Trustees. 

At this December meeting the fees for graduation were 
named as follows : 

A Bachelor shall pay to the College Library _^o. 15.0 

A Master shall pay to Do 1. 0.0 

A Bachelor shall present to the Provost at least i. o. o 

" " to each of the Professors including the 

Vice-Provost under whom he has studied since his entering 

the College 0.15.0 

The Keeper of the Great Seal for affixing it to any Diploma, 

honorary ones excepted shall have o. 10. o 

At the beginning of this year, at the meeting of 1 1 January,, 
the Rate of Tuition for the Students in Philosophy was "aug- 
mented to ten Pounds per Annum " to " commence at the End 
of Three Months from this Date." 



3i6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Benjamin Chew, who drew up the report on the petition 
of the Vice-Provost and the Professors, was elected a Trustee on 
1 1 January, 1757, to fill the vacancy made by the death of Dr. 
Zachary. The son of Dr. Samuel Chew, he was born at his 
Father's residence, on West River, Maryland, 29 November, 
1722. He was young when his Father removed to the Lower 
Counties. After completing his education, he entered the office 
of Andrew Hamilton, the Councillor, but the latter dying in 
1 74 1, Chew went abroad and entered the Middle Temple in 
London. He returned to America in 1743, on hearing of the 
death of his Father, and was admitted an attorney of the 
Supreme Court of the Province of Pennsylvania in September 
Term, 1746, but it appears did not practice until about nine 
years later. His residence was at Dover, Delaware, and in 
175 I he was included in the Boundary Commission as a repres- 
tative of the Lower Counties. He removed to Philadelphia 
about 1754. His reputation largely exceeded his age, and 
though so new a resident of Philadelphia he in January 1755 
became Attorney General, succeeding Mr. Francis, and in 
August following, became Recorder of the City. And at the 
close of the same year he was called to the Governor's Council, 
in the midst of the excitement following Braddock's defeat. His 
was a busy life, filling these public offices ; and in 1765, to these 
were added that of the Register-General of the Province. In 
1761 he built his Mansion, "Cliveden," at the then outlying 
town, Germantown. When William Allen resigned the Chief 
Justiceship of the Supreme Court in 1774, Chew was appointed 
his successor on 29 April. At the outbreak of the Revolution 
these offices fell with the Royal authority, which was their 
derivation, though his continuance as Register-General was 
made necessary by force of circumstances, and his acts were in 
1778 validated by the Legislature. As a suspect he was under 
surveillance, during the Revolution, and was for some time 
under arrest; but he was released in June, 1778, and remained 
at his house in peace until the quietness of the times 
removed him from all suspicion. During his absence his house 
was the conspicuous figure in the Battle of Germantown, Octo- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 317 

ber, 1777, and by its possession a handful of British troops 
were enabled under its cover to detain the main body of Ameri- 
cans in its attack long enough to prevent the consummation of 
Washington's plans for the struggle of the day, to ensure the 
defeat of the American army. In October, 1791, he was 
appointed Judge and President of the High Court of Errors 
and Appeals of Pennsylvania, and these he held until the aboli- 
tion of the court in 1808. He died 20 January, 18 10, and is 
buried in St. Peter's Churchyard. Notwithstanding his accu- 
mulating duties, he gave faithful attendance on the meetings of 
the Trustees, and from his acknowledged judgment and learn- 
ing he was sought on many of the special committees, as in the 
case of the vexed question which his opinion settled in July 
1757. During the Revolutionary period, we find him at the 
meetings of January, 9 May, 3, 17 October, 1775 ; April, June, 
October, 1776; 5 June, September; November 1778; and in 
1779 from March quite regularly to 28 September. He was not 
present at the final meetings of October and November, 1779, 
when the blow of destruction was impending ; his presence 
would not have aided the unfortunate institution against the 
attacks of the party who sought the abrogation of its charter. 
His eldest son Benjamin, a graduate of 1775, became a Trustee 
in 1810. The latter's sons Benjamin and Samuel were gradu- 
ates of 18 10, John of 1 81 2, Henry Banning of 181 5, William 
White of 1820, and Anthony Banning of 1825 ; while a grand- 
son of Henry B. Chew renews the Hnk as a graduate of 1886. 
Chief Justice Chew was the last of those Trustees whose 
office dates prior to the first Commencement. Of the original 
twenty- four, Logan, Lawrence, Zachary and Willing had died ; 
Isaac Norris, who had succeeded James Logan, resigned in 
1755 ; and to the nineteen original Trustees remaining were now 
added Cadwalader, Hamilton, Stedman, Mifflin and Chew. Of 
the original number, seven were Provincial Councillors of Penn- 
sylvania, Logan, Lawrence, Turner, Strettell, Peters, Taylor and 
Hopkinson ; and of the six new members, five were also Coun- 
cillors, Norris, Cadwalader, Hamilton, Mifflin and Chew. Allen, 
the Recorder of the City at the organization of the Trustees,. 



3i8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

became Chief Justice the year following, and his wife was the 
daughter and sister of Councillors. Francis was Attorney Gen- 
eral of the Province at the time of the organization, and in 1750 
succeeded Allen as Recorder of the City. Masters married in 
1754 the daughter of a Councillor. Zachary was the grandson 
of an early Councillor. Franklin's genius and leadership found 
no place in the Council, but his influence was greater than any 
such seat could create, for he was the foremost man in the 
Province. Of the rest, Inglis, M'Call, Leech, Shippen, Syng, 
Willing, the two Bonds, Plumsted, Maddox, White, Coleman 
and Stedman had earned for themselves eminence in the com- 
munity as merchants or professional men. Such a collocation 
of men of provincial note and influence was the most remark- 
able and distinguished ever gathered together in one common 
work in this Province ; and as such, in force and dignity was 
perhaps never equalled, certainly never excelled in any of the 
sister Provinces ; and all this was in the cause of Education, 
and the men were inspired and united in their work by one who 
had attained to a high appreciation of the needs of the Province 
in this direction, and yet who it may be said was himself with- 
out early education further than what could be drawn out of 
the materials he found around him by his own inborn faith and 
perseverence. 

The period of Organization of the College and Academy 
may be said to be completed on the graduation of the first class 
in 1757. There has been much to study in this formative 
time, in both men and methods, and its picture has to be 
drawn with more measured details than may be required in its 
subsequent periods. From this point on for nearly a score of 
years we may designate as the ante-Revolutionary period. The 
Institution felt the influence of party broils and wrangles of the 
time, as this was unavoidable when the men the most conspicu- 
ous in its control and management did not avoid provincial 
politics. We shall find this period to end only in disaster, and 
we must endeavor to fathom those causes which led to the 
injustice of 1779, when the fair fabric was laid low which had 
grown to such vigor by its first commencement. It is difficult 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 319 

to draw the line between the differing influences which were 
fostered within its boundaries, for though Education was its aim, 
yet there was too much fomenting and seething within the Prov- 
ince in which it was placed to keep that aim undisturbed ; and 
many matters may have taken form that do not appear on 
record, which left their sting behind to bear fruit in the uncer- 
tain and harassing times of mid-revolution, in which perhaps 
institutions were made the victims of mistrust and suspicion in 
order to strike at individuals. 



XLV. 

That the mixing of politics in college life was not due to 
colonial influences in this case, but rather in the inborn taste of 
the average Englishman, whether in home or colonial life, for 
politics generally, is borne out by the consideration of their 
influence in the universities at home, Mr. Wordsworth in his 
Social Life at the English Universities, quoting Hartley Cole- 
ridge, " Everything in England takes the shape and hue of poli- 
tics," proceeds to say : 

If this was true of the country in the earlier half of the present century, 
it was so preeminently at the Universities in the Eighteenth, * * -x- It might 
at first sight appear that politics could have very little to do with the Life 
and Studies of a University. But this is far from being the real state 
of the case. After three such revolutions as the country had experienced 
within half a century, it was impossible that the interest of the country should 
not be fixed upon public affairs. The taste for Pamphlets which had arisen 
in the days of Charles I. had now increased a thousandfold, -x- •» * if 
we take up a chance volume containing 1 8th century tracts relating to either 
of the Universities, it will be no extraordinary thing if there are one or 
more bearing directly upon the politics of the day : very few we shall find, 
if we have the time or the patience to read them through are totally uncon- 
jiected with party dissensions. * * * Politics usurped the place of 
Christian doctrine in the pulpit ; politics lurked in the Coffee houses and 
Ihe taverns — her spirit was not expelled even from the ' Triposes ' and 
Tripos-speeches. At Oxford the Act (or Commemoration) was full of 



320 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

it; * * * Party feeling had a great power in producing and foster- 
ing the nightly demonstrations which disturbed the more peaceful students 
and inhabitants of Cambridge and Oxford, at the beginning of the last 
century, and early in our own. ^ 

That a certain knowledge of cotemporary politics can be 
made a handmaid to Education, there can be no question, for the 
pupil in this can with the aid of his preceptor be led to juster and 
truer views of the former, than if he was shut out of all knowl- 
edge of civil movements around him and only turned into them 
without training when Education has set him nominally free 
from its bonds. The boys in the College and Academy were 
trained to loyalty; the Commencement of 1762 provided a 
Dialogue and Ode on the death of our late gracious Majesty 
George II ; the Commencement of 1763 had a like exercise in 
honor of the happy accession and nuptials of our present gra- 
cious Majesty George III. But the controversies over the 
Stamp Act made loyalty to such a gracious sovereignty less 
palatable, patriotism became an element in the community, 
and its votaries were found in our College Halls in increasing 
numbers year by year. Smith, the author of the Dialogues of 
1762 and 1763, could not sympathise in this patriotism as did 
Hopkinson the author of the Ode, who with his pen and good 
humor helped in the nationalising of his native land. Thus, in 
our narrative we cannot recite the work and influence of the 
remarkable curriculum alone, and note the happy results for 
learning and knowledge in its students which proved its excel- 
lence, without throwing upon it, and the men who employed it, 
those lights and shadows which the contemporary circumstances 
surrounding the new birth of a nation would naturally engender. 
In our case, this is imperative ; for some of the Trustees and 
members of the Faculty were deep in the controversies of these 
years, and their personal influence must have been felt by the 
lads. Could it be a matter of little moment to any of these, 
that the Founder of their Home of learning was the foremost 
man of the day in all public affairs whether of politics or of 
philanthropy, and was in most of these years representing his 

"^ Social Life, pp. 5, 24, 25, 26, 27. 



History of the University of Pennyslvania. 321: 

adopted Province at the throne of power pleading for liberty ? 
Could it be a matter of indifference to any that their Provost 
was taking his share in controversy whether public or anony- 
mous ? Would they not catch at least the echo of these 
influences ? And may it not lie in such surroundings that the 
College and Academy turned into the arena of the Revolution 
more men in proportion to her graduates than any other 
Collegiate institution ? If this was so, no regret can be felt at 
the exhibitions of partisan strife we shall witness as we pro- 
ceed in the years whose records are yet to be studied. In this 
central Province of the colonies all the great movements of 
the time found their larger expression, and the College lads 
would have been cold indeed did their feelings not respond 
to the thought that they were waiting on the infancy of a great 
Nation, in whose future success they might have some share, 
whether more or less. Hopkinson who set his loyal Odes of 
1762 and 1763 to his own music and sang them, was equally 
with Paca nurturing those greater principles which caused 
them to set their hands to a Declaration that loyalty to one's 
own country was the highest patriotism. Duche put his hands 
to the same plough, but looked back and was lost. Latta, and 
Magaw, and Morgan, and Williamson, were all true to the same 
pole. These were the farthest removed from the storm 
burst of 1775. But they, even from this distant point, attain 
a like degree in the work of their country's freedom with John 
Morris, Patrick Alison, Robert Goldsborough, Whitmel Hill, 
Thomas Mifflin, Richard Peters, Tench Tilghman, Alexander 
Wilcocks, Joseph Yeates, Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant, John 
Andrews, William White, Francis Johnston, Joshua Maddox 
Wallace, Benjamin Duffield, Henry Latimer, and others. Hap- 
pily for their country, these men came to the struggle with 
minds trained in the best school for learning known in the 
colonies, and the record of such results should alone have 
saved it from the suspicions and the injustice of 1779 ; but, the 
party heat of that year having found its victim exhausted itself, 
and the successors of these partisans in a single decade made 
restitution and galvanized their victim into new life. 



322 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XLVI. 

During the preparations for the first commencement there 
arose the beginnings of a contention in which the Provost 
largely figured. It was in the case of Judge Moore of Chester 
County, against whom as early as March, 1757, petitions were 
being sent up to the Assembly praying his removal for sundry 
alleged acts of injustice and cruelty. These the Assembly 
deferred the consideration of for several weeks, but the petitions 
accumulated. At last in August a hearing of both parties is 
had, and Judge Moore presents a paper in general contradiction 
of the petitions. Adjournment is had, but instead of appearing he 
sends in a Memorial denying authority of Assembly, as all mat- 
ters charged against him were cognizable by common law. The 
House continued the case and took testimony from the peti- 
tioners, and finally on 27 September adjudged him guilty, and 
addressed Governor Denny requesting him " to remove William 
Moore from the office of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas 
and Justice of the Peace and from all other publick Offices, Posts 
and Employments." The animus of all this lay in the imputed 
enmity of the Friends in the Assembly to Judge Moore, as he 
had taken a prominent part in the attacks on the Friends for 
their Peace principles when war was hovering on the borders of 
the Province. The address to the Governor was by order of the 
House published in the Gazette, where many of the official docu- 
ments reached the public eye. Judge Moore took umbrage at 
this ; and the Assembly having adjourned on i October, and 
the election for the new Assembly shortly recurring, he deemed 
it important to submit a counter address to the Governor, which 
was also inserted in the Gazette ; his language was free and 
aggressive, for the body which had maligned him was in his opin- 
ion dead ; but the new Assembly composed mainly of the same 
members accepted his address as an attack on their dignity, and 
6 January, 1758, they summoned him and also William Smith to 
the Bar of the House to answer such questions as should then 
and there be put to them. Mr. Smith's connection with this was 
due not only to the general suspicion that he was the author of 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 323 

Judge Moore's letter to the Governor that was deemed so 
offensive by the Assembly, which however Judge Moore declared 
was his own authorship ; but to the fact that he had been instru- 
mental in causing its publication in the German newspaper 
that was published under the care of the German Society, 
which was not denied. The Governor appointed a day for hear- 
ing the case, but in the meanwhile the House impatient at the 
Governor's tardiness and wishing to lose no time in avenging the 
indignity to the former house had placed Judge Moore under 
arrest, which in turn he pleaded as an excuse for not appearing 
before the Governor for the appointed hearing. Governor 
Denny and the Assembly fell into an angry correspondence, as 
the latter came under the belief that he was seeking the refuge 
of technicalities on behalf of the Judge. On 1 1 January he was 
adjudged guilty of a high contempt, and ordered to be impris- 
oned until he should retract. On the 13th, Mr. Smith was called 
up to answer for his share in this controversy, and on the 24th 
he was adjudged guilty of " promoting and publishing the libel- 
lous paper &c," and on the next day, on being ordered in and 
informed of this finding, he arose and said he would make an 
appeal to the King. On being presented with the alternative of 
a retraction, he replied, in one of his eloquent outbursts, 

as he was conscious of no offense against the house, his lips should never 
give his heart the lie, there being no punishment which they could inflict 
half so terrible to him as the thought of forfeiting his veracity and good 
name with the world, ^ 

which attracted applause among his friends who were in the 
house, but for which they in turn were brought up for censure 
and admonition. 

Mr. Smith was then committed to the Sheriff for imprison- 
ment, and to Jail he went. On 4 February he applied to Chief 



1 Atnerican Magazine, p. 200. In this serial will be found, in the Numbers 
for February and August, 1758, Mr. Smith's narrative of this whole proceeding. 
" The Assembly of this province hath been sitting since the 2nd inst [January], 
during which time some steps have been taken, so alarming in their nature, and 
attended with such public heats and animosities, that we dare not trust ourselves at 
present to give a particular account of them, least we should have caught some 
degree of the general infection to make us depart from our usual coolness and candor 
of disquisition," p. 199. 



324 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Justice Allen, a College Trustee, for a writ of Habeas Corpus, 
but the latter did not think himself authorized in granting such 
as the petitioner was committed by the House for a breach of 
privilege. His appeal to the Governor was as well unsuccessful, 
for his endorsement on the petition read, " The unhappy 
situation of the Petitioner moves me with great compassion, but 
if I have a Power in any shape to interpose in this matter, I do 
not incline to excuse it, as it might, at this critical Juncture, 
endanger the safety of the whole Province." Here he continued 
until liberated about 11 April by the Supreme Court on the 
adjournment of the Assembly ; but on reassembling in Septem- 
ber new writs were issued and he was again arrested and was in 
imprisonment until the final adjournment. In the meanwhile, 
his appeal was prepared and had gone forward and had been 
referred to the Attorney General. The new Assembly in 
November, again in pursuit of the vindication of the honor of the 
former Assembly, voted Smith's commitment to the Sergeant-at- 
Arms, but he could not be found and by i December had 
sailed for England to prosecute in person his Appeal from the 
judgments of the assembly. As to Judge Moore, the Governor 
gave him a hearing in August, and adjudged him free of the 
charges preferred against him ; but the assembly still sought 
reparation and his retraction, without avail ; and in February, 
1759, the Sergeant-at-Arms reported that " Moore has absconded 
without paying his fees, and Smith having lately embarked for 
England." 

It is difficult for us, so many years after these transactions, 
to form an exact opinion on the merits of this peculiar case. 
Mr. Smith to a letter to the Bishop of London written from the 
" Philada. County Gaol ", 7 February, 1758, speaks of the 

Persecuting spirit of the Quakers against those who had the courage to 
avow themselves strenuous advocates for the defence of this His Majesty's 
Colony. * * * Against me in particular they have had a long grudge 
supposing me the Author of some Pamphlets published in London to alarm 
the Nation of the dreadful consequences of suffering such men to continue 
in power at this time. But finding no pretext to distress me, though lying 
in watch for three years, the Assembly called me before them and com- 
mitted me to gaol for having reprinted a Paper (in the German Newspaper 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 325 

under my Direction as a Trustee for a Society in London) which had been 
printed four weeks before in both the Enghsh Newspapers, and in one of 
them by the Assembly's own Printer after consulting the Speaker and 
two other leading Members.^ 

This statement brings the gravamen down to one charge, 
of his instrumentality in printing it in the German paper. It is 
true it had appeared in FrankHn's Gazette and Bradford's 
Journal h\xt only in sequence with other State Papers, and these 
newspapers were more just to Judge Moore in printing both 
sides of the controversy than was the German paper in merely 
printing the Judge's Counter Address. In this sense the Assem- 
bly adjudged him guilty " of promoting and publishing a false, 
scandalous, virulent and seditious libel against the late House 
of Assembly of this Province, and highly derogatory of and 
destructive to the rights of this House and the privileges of 
Assembly." Their error and fault lay in their entire course, 
for they could not pass upon the libeller of the former assembly, 
and their proceeding to his imprisonment was contrary to all prin- 
ciple of sound justice. The Germans found that their only means 
of securing general news was through a newspaper in their own 
language ; and as they were assumed to be inimical to the 
Assembly which was largely composed of Quakers, to circulate 
Judge Moore's Counter Address was certainly treating them to 
that view of the controversy which was the most prejudicial 
to their influence, and they rightly deemed that this was not the 
intent of the publication in the German newspaper. But whatever 
the former Assembly might have done to vindicate their honor, 
their successors had no standing upon which to take up the 
cudgels for them. Here was Mr. Smith's strong point, and he 
was aware of it ; and he would be content with even imprison- 
ment if he felt that justice in the end would be attained. 

That there were lurking suspicions against Mr, Smith as to 
his connection with the controversies of the day, and somewhat 
of a fear of the force of his trenchant pen, there can be no doubt, 
but to what extent there existed g-round for the former we now 



2 Isaac Norris, William Masters, and Joseph Galloway. American 
Magazine, p. 200. 



326 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

know not, but we can well judge that both his tongue and his 
pen were deemed strong weapons, which perhaps were more 
dreaded than respected. These were not entertained alone by 
the Quakers, as Smith always termed the Friends, although he 
appeared to lay at their door all the charges of enmity to him. 
In the Assembly which now passed judgment upon him there 
were three of his College Trustees, Leech, Masters, and Plum- 
sted, all Churchmen, and so far as we know they did not 
befriend him. Even good old Dr. Jenney, the Rector of Christ 
Church, had no warm thought for the young cleric-politician, 
for on 27 November of the same year he wrote to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury : 

What I am most concerned for and apprehensive of evil conse- 
quences from is the practice of some Clergymen here to intermix what is 
their true and real business with politics in civil affairs and being so zealous 
therein as to blame and even revile those of their Brethren who cannot 
approve of their conduct in this particular. I am very sorry to be forced 
to name one William Smith, who 'tis said is gone to England with this 
view, and without doubt will wait upon your grace. * * * He pre- 
tends to be a great intimate of the Hon' ble Mr. Thomas Penn, our Pro- 
prietor, and several other great men whose favour he boasts of, but I am 
in Hopes that no great man will support him in his misrepresentation of 
me without giving me an opportunity to clear myself. 

One element of opposition to him was found, probably, in 
a natural but unreasonable local prejudice against a new comer 
into the community engaging so heartily in provincial contests, 
for he had been a resident of Philadelphia but three years when 
he became a partisan of Judge Moore. His dislike of the 
Assembly, on account of its Quaker influences, was perhaps 
reciprocated on account of their repugnance to a minister of 
Christ who was so valorous for war ; but his opponents in the 
Assembly were not always these Quakers. Politics found in him 
a congenial adherent, and it was impossible with his peculiar 
temperament for him to keep out of the fray that was raging 
in the press around him. Had a contrary attitude prevailed, 
his influence on the side of peace and harmony would have been 
of great avail, but his pen was but adding fuel to the flames. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 327 
XLVII. 

The circumstances of the province military-wise were 
peculiar, and were made more conspicuous in its position of 
danger by surrounding enemies, from whom it could only 
defend itself by its own resources. These resources, so far as 
the descendants of Penn's followers could be considered, were 
not drawn from any military preparations, but only from the 
mighty arm of peace and good-will. Had the Friends been the 
only citizens in the Province, it is not without reason to suppose 
that they would never have been harassed by enemies, for the 
Indians would have been their defendants against the French 
instead of befriending the subtle foe ; but from the mixed nature 
of the inhabitants offences could not be avoided, and the peace 
policy of the Friends lost all its force. Mr. Smith, in Novem- 
ber, 1757, describes the situation thus : 

The province of Pennsylvan ia has something peculiar to itself that 
renders this task harder in it than in almost any other country. We are at 
present a trading and not a military colony ; and of eight religious denomi- 
nations that are of most note among us (if we follow the example of our 
mother country) we can only depend on four to bear arms. The Roman 
Catholics are excluded for political reasons ; the Unitas Fratrum or Mora- 
vians are exempted from all personal service by an act of parliament in 
1749 ; and the Quakers and Mennonites, two numerous and wealthy socie- 
ties, cannot bear arms consistent with their religious tenets ; so that the 
danger and burden of publick defence is devolved on the members of the 
Church of England, the English and German Presbyterians, the Lutherans, 
and the English Baptists. But these will think it hard and unequal to 
expose their lives to maintain their neighbors in ease and safety, who have 
equal estates and privileges ; and it may be thought as hard to obhge men 
by a law, to do that in defence of their lives or estates, which they are per- 
suaded will ruin their souls. * * * If the burden of defence be cast 
on the four religious denominations who can bear arms, it would be 
unequal and severe ; nay, it would be to preserve the religious rights of 
one part of the State at the expense of the civil rights of another.^ 

Thus the Friends, being the greatest in number and 
influence of all the combatants, attracted to themselves the 
opposition of those who were impatient at their conscientious 



^ Proposal for a Militia in Pennsylvania. American Magazine, p. 63. 



328 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

denial of appropriations for military purposes, and in contem- 
porary politics they bore the brunt of accusations that they were 
exposing the borders of the Province to Indian and French 
depredations. This revilement was convenient and easy, yet 
no attempt was made by their accusers to pursue that even- 
handed justice with the native Savage which would have gone a 
long way to avert the calamities of war. 



XLVIII. 

Mr. Smith's occupation in this arraignment and imprison- 
ment necessarily deprived the College of his continuous atten- 
tion ; and references to this peculiar condition of affairs are 
found twice in the Minutes of the Trustees. On 4 February, 
the first meeting after his imprisonment, when the refusal to 
him on that day by Chief Justice Allen of a writ of Habeas 
Corpus rendered his release for the remainder of the Assem- 
bly's session hopeless, it is recorded : 

the Assembly ot the Province having taken Mr Smith into Custody the 
Trustees considered how the Inconveniences from thence arising to the 
College might be best remedied, and Mr Smith having expressed a Desire 
to continue his Lectures to the Classes which had formerly attended them, 
the Students also inclining to proceed in their Studies under his care ; 
They ordered that the said Classes should attend him for that Purpose at 
the usual Hours in the Place of his present Confinement : 

this being in the County Prison at the corner of Walnut 
and Sixth Streets, and here the young Provost taught his 
classes within a stone's throw of the lot which James Logan 
had in 1749 offered the Trustees for the use of their new 
Academy. And here he remained, unyielding in his position 
and surrounded by his classes, until his liberation in April upon 
adjournment of the Assembly. But no steps were taken for 
the annual commencement, possibly under the apprehension lest 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 329 

a public ceremony of this kind would draw some of the hostility 
exhibited by the partisans of the Assembly against its Provost, 
personally towards the College and its Trustees. Three of the 
young men were ready for their degrees ; Andrew Allen, James 
Allen, and John Morris had undergone the usual public exami- 
nation with approbation, but they had to await the commence- 
ment exercises of 1759 for their public reception. ^ 

But in the midst of Mr. Smith's trials and imprisonment, 
came the romance of his life. In his acquaintance with Judge 
Moore and his family, he could not but be attracted by the 
charms of his daughter Rebecca, a beautiful and accomplished 
girl. She was a faithful visitor to her Father in his confinement, 
and while the Judge and the Provost in their long hours of 
imprisonment must have often conferred together upon their 
wrongs and have fostered each in the other common courage 
and endurance, and maintained a mutual hope of ultimate free- 
dom, the latter must have had frequent and favorable opportu- 
nities of cultivating an acquaintance with the former's lovely 
visitor ; an engagement followed, and in a few weeks after his 
liberation they were married on 3 June, 1750, at Moore Hall, 
in Chester County, the Judge's residence. Mrs. Smith's eldest 
sister, Williamina, had married in 1748, Dr. Phineas Bond. Of 
this alliance, his Biographer records : 

he was indebted for a well-assorted and happy connexion ; it was 
every way judicious ; family, fortune and external circumstances, combined 
with considerations of feeling; to make it wise. 



1 Minutes, 8 June, 1759. See Smith i. 186. 



330 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

XLIX. 

But, with all his employments of mind and heart early in 
1758, William Smith's thoughts drifted again to public affairs; and 
out of his keen anxieties for the safety of the Province in the 
approaching campaign which General Forbes was now undertak- 
ing against Fort Duquesne, came his " Earnest address to the 
Colonies, particularly those of the Southern district ; on the 
opening of the Campaign, 1758," to which the concluding para- 
graph gives an eloquent closing : 

Rise, then, my countrymen, as you value the blessings you enjoy, 
and dread the evils that hang over you, rise and show yourselves worthy of 
the name of Britons ! rise to secure to your posterity, peace, freedom, and 
a pure religion ! rise to chastize a perfidious nation for their breach of 
treaties, their detestable cruelties, and their horrid murders ! remember the 
cries of your captivated brethren, your orphan children, your helpless 
widows, and thousands of beggar' d families ! think of Monongahela, Fort 
William Henry, and those scenes of savage death, where the mangled 
limbs of your fellow citizens lie strewed upon the plain ; calling upon you 
to retrieve the honor of the British name ! Thus animated and roused, and 
thus putting your confidence, where alone it can be put, let us go forth in 
humble boldness ; and the Lord do what seemeth him good. 

The hopeful anticipations of the colonists for this campaign 
were realised ; and we find Mr. Smith preaching in Trinity 
Church, New York, on 17 September, 1758, his sermon on 
" the Duty of praising God for signal Mercies and Deliverances, 
on occasion of the remarkable success of His Majesty's Arms 
in America, during that Campaign ; " which he repeated at 
Oxford, Pennsylvania, on i October : 

After the days of mourning which we have seen, the short period of 
one year has produced such a turn in favour of the Protestant cause, as 
astonishes ourselves, and among posterity will scarce be believed. The 
wonderful successes of the Prussian Hero, towards the close of the last 
campaign in Germany ; and the successes which, in the present campaign, 
God has already been pleased to bestow on the British arms in America, by 
the reduction of Louisburg, ^ and other important places, furnish a series of 

1 Pennsylvania Gazette of 24 August, 1 758, announces the " New York post 
riding ninety miles last Monday to bring news of the fall of Louisburg, our bells 
were set a Kinging, the Guns were fired, Bonfires were lighted, and the city was 
beautifully illuminated." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 331 

such happy events, that if any one had proposed them to our hopes a 
twelvemonth ago, we should have thought him mocking our credulity, or 
insulting our distress. * * * The best fruits of victory are beset around 
with thorns ; and what are days of rejoicing to others are but days of 
mourning to many, whose dearest Relatives have given up their lives, a sac- 
rifice in the contest. This world is a chequered scene, and we are to expect 
no pure bliss in it. 



L. 

The new Assembly which convened in November was 
seeking Mr. Smith for further imprisonment. His appeal had 
gone forward to England. He may have hoped the coming 
Assembly would not strain its authority as had the former 
Assembly, and he might remain unmolested in the pursuit of 
of his duties. But he was disappointed, and at his request the 
President called 

an especial Meeting on the 226. November, that the Trustees might be 
made acquainted that he had been imprisoned by a former Assembly for a 
supposed offence in promoting and publishing an Address of William 
Moore, Esq"", to the Honourable William Denny, Esq"", the Governor of this 
Province, which that House had voted a Libel against them and the Privi- 
leges of Assembly ; that he conceived though the Charge against him had 
been true, which however he utterly denied, he did not think it a Matter 
cognizable before them: that, not having hitherto made any Submission for 
the said supposed offence, the present assembly had issued their Warrant 
to apprehend him and take him into Custody ; and being, in this Situa- 
tion, rendered incapable for the present to discharge the Duty of his Sta- 
tion, he designed with the consent and approbation of the Trustees speedily 
to sail for England to solicit his Majesty for relief ; and prayed the Trustees 
to grant him their License for that Purpose ; 

and on Dr. Peters assuring them of the expected assistance of the 
Rev. Mr. Ewing in the Provost's absence, 

the Trustees took Mr Smith's Request into consideration and unanimously 
agreed to give Mr Smith their Leave to take a Voyage to England, and to 



332 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

be absent from his service in the College till the first Day of June next, a 
which Time they would very cheerfully receive him again as their Provost, 
and on this occasion they thought it incumbent on them to do Mr Smith 
the Justice to testify their Sense of his great abilities and the Satisfaction 
he had given them in the faithful Discharge of his office. 

Furnished with this diplomatic but kindly action of the 
Trustees — for they forebore using any word or phrase which 
might seem to befriend the subject of it as endangering the 
notice of the Assembly, Mr. Smith took passage for England 
about I December, arriving in London on New Year's Day, 
1759. He prosecuted his appeal with success, and on 26 June 
the Privy Council granted him the relief he sought, " declaring 
his Majesty's high displeasure at the unwarrantable behaviour of 
the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania in assuming to 
themselves powers which do not belong to them, and invading 
both his Majesty's Royal Prerogative, and the Liberties of the 
Subject" ; and with the order in his pocket to the Governor to 
signify the same to the Assembly, he set his face homeward and 
arrived in Philadelphia on 8 October. He also brought with him 
the Degree Sacrosanctas Theologiae Doctor et Magister from 
the University of Aberdeen, dated 10 March, 1759, and that of 
Doctor in Sacra Theologia of the University of Oxford, of 
seventeen days later. His visit to England was singularly 
favorable, as the influence of the Penns, of whose cause in 
Pennsylvania he was perhaps the ablest advocate, befriended 
him and enabled him with more readiness to prosecute his 
appeal. This was helped in turn by the Oxford Degree ; and at 
a time when the Assembly's representative was pleading without 
success for relief from Proprietary restrictions, to mark with 
signal favor, by college and ro)'alty, the man who was in fact 
combating that complaint, was an opportunity that might not 
be lost at this critical political juncture. The Penn family were 
now Church of England people, and had lost the personal sym- 
pathies of their great ancestor's co-religionists who were quite 
free to join the popular party who were combating the Proprie- 
tary selfishness. Thus on every hand, the Penns would welcome 
the man whose trenchant pen was maintaining their authority 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 335, 

in a distant province which had reason to fault their absenteeism, 
and exactions. Under these peculiar circumstances, Dr. Smith 
did not confer with Franklin, then in England. We know not 
whether they met. Ordinarily, it might be thought he would 
seek counsel of the man who had made for him such an excel- 
lent position in Pennsylvania ; but to avail himself of the influ- 
ence of the Penns, it was essential there should be no entangle- 
ment or acknowledged intercourse with the representative of the 
Assembly whose attitude was one of opposition to that family.. 
However, the author of the Account of the College and Academy 
of Philadelphia in the American Magazine for October, 1758,. 
might not expect a welcome or any aid from the man upon 
whom he had therein recorded an injustice ; and a copy of this; 
may have reached Franklin, as his partner must have kept him 
supplied with all home publications. 

The American Magazine or Monthly ChroJticle for the 
British Colonies, was undertaken in October, 1757, by a 
"Society of Gentlemen," and published by William Bradford, 
at his establishment in the London Coffee House, at the corner 
of Front and Market Streets, and bore the Motto on its title 
pages, Veritatis cultores. Fraiidis inimici. Bradford had such a 
publication long in mind, and finally in William Smith he found, 
his editor. 

The parties saw in each other their required complements ; and with 
such a literary support as Dr. Smith — both ready and able with his pen, 
methodical in business, and with talents formed equally to gratify the 
learned and to attract those inspiring to learn — Bradford felt that he could 
safely begin his work. ^ 



1 Smith, i. 165. The Editor writes to George Washington, lo November 
1757, soliciting his interest in the pubHcation and displaying some of his plans in its 
conduct: "Sir: You'll perceive your name in the list of those 'tis hoped will, 
encourage the enclosed Magazine & I hope you'll forgive the Liberty we have taken 
as you are placed in good company & in a good design. Tis a work which may be 
rendered of very general Service to all the Colonies. We shall be under particular 
Obligations for every Subscriber you can procure, to give the work a general Run. 
I have not been unmindful of the Papers you sent relating to the French Memorial & 
you would have seen proper use made of them before now * * * in the general His- 
tory of the present War which you find promised in the Magazine. I shall therefore, 
be greatly obliged to you for every Light you can throw upon that Subject. * * * 
As you acted a principal part in all these Affairs, and as it is our design to do the 
utmost Justice to all concerned & especially those Patriots & brave men born in 
America, who have distinguished themselves in the present war, I must rely on your 



334 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The Editor in his preface says : 

We think we have every advantage for carrying it on, which this new 
world can afford. We are placed in the centre of the British Colonies, in 
a city that has extensive commerce, and immediate communication with 
all our other settlements. We have also the opportunity of decorating our 
work with engravings of every sort, for demonstrations in mathematics, 
and other necessary cuts and figures, by means of an able workman 
residing among us. 

Ebenezer Kinnersley and Thomas Godfrey were contrib- 
utors to its pages. Some of the early poems of Frances Hop- 
kinson adorned them. William Smith contributed the Hermit, 
the Antigallican, the Planter, the Watchman, and the Prattler, 
each continued through various numbers ; and the Monthly 
Chronicle furnished the latest news from abroad and political 
intelligence at home. It was a Magazine well ahead of the 
times ; but its life was brief, the last number being that of Octo- 
ber, 1758, which contains a Postscript dated 14 November, 
reciting that 

as the design was at first set on foot by a number of gentlemen, merely 
with a view to promote a taste for Letters and useful knowledge in this 
American World, and as several of the principal hands who first engaged 
in it, are now obliged to give their constant attention to other matters, the 
carrying on the work falls too heavy on the remainder, so that it has been 
determined to discontinue it, at least for some time. 

The Editor, upon whose skill and management its life 
depended, was now contemplating his visit to England in prose- 
cution of his appeal, and Bradford discontinued its publication, 
" which if reputation or profit had been their motive, the work 
would have been long continued." 

The account of the College and Academy prepared by the 
Provost for the last number of this Magazine was inserted in 
substance in the edition of his Discourses which were published 



Assistance, so far as comes within your koowledge. * * * As this history is to be 
a full one & will probably be long preserved, I flatter myself that your Regard for 
your Country and Desire to have its interests understood will excuse this trouble, & 
induce you to send me as soon as possible what I have requested. If we delay long, 
the Thing may fall to other hands, less inclined to a disinterested execution of it. 
^* * * Send the subscribers' Names for the Magazine to me but do not mention 
my name to any Body, -x- * * Wm. Smith." Letters to Washington edited 
by S. M. Hamilton, 1899, •'. 233. 



HiSTOKY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 335 

in London during his visit there in 1759, and this has been fol- 
lowed in the later edition of his Discourses and that of his 
Works. Both publications open with the statement that 

in the year 1749, a number of private gentlemen, who had long regretted 
it as misfortune to the youth of this province that we had no public Semi- 
nary, in which they might receive the accomplishments of a regular 
education, published a paper of hints and proposals for erecting an 
academy in this city. 

But the Discourses of 1757 omit a phrase in the third para- 
graph, found in the Magazine : 

At first only three persons were concerned in forming it, two of 
whom are since dead, and the other now in England. These communi- 
cated their thoughts to others, till at last the number of [here the narrative 
continues alike in both] twenty-four joined themselves together as 
Trustees, &c. 

The one " now in England " was FrankHn ; the two " since 
dead," were Francis and Hopkinson ; for though Logan, Law- 
rence, Zachary and Willing were also "since dead," the two here 
named were those intended by the writer. It is not probable 
this mode of reference to the author of the Proposals and the 
originator of the Academy would have been made had he been 
at the time at home. This allusion of 1758 was of an opposite 
character to that of 1753 (which was indeed repeated in 1762) 
where in his Mirania he refers to "the English School and 
Academy in Philadelphia first sketched out by the very ingen- 
ious and worthy Mr. Franklin of that place." ^ Certain personal 
references to the Faculty of the College, added to the account 
in the Magazine, and which will be noticed hereafter, do not 
find place in its subsequent publications. It was no light work 
to edit such a Magazine, and it affords another evidence of 
William Smith's mental activity aud unfailing industry that he 
should continue it through the particular harassments that the 
year 1758 brought to him. 



^ Miranians, p. 15. In the second edition included in the Discourses of 
1762, this reference is put in a footnote and reads "first sketched out by the 
ingenious Dr. Franklin of that place." 



336 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

LI. 

In following the steps of the Provost from the Commence- 
ment of 1757, we have done so continuously for the space of 
two years, in order that the narrative of this period of his life 
should be unbroken. It is not only the doings of the man that 
have been noted, but of the Provost, for it seems almost 
impossible to separate the man from the incumbent, as the 
influences which he carried with him were felt more or less by 
the College ; his individuality and force impressed themselves 
upon every undertaking in which he took an interest, and what 
work was there in which he had a share in which he did not 
fully interest himself? 

The subject of a Library had forced itself upon the atten- 
tion of the Trustees. At the meeting at which the Provost's 
arrest was reported, 4 February, 1758, a Minute records : 

It being represented to the Trustees that many of the Students in the 
Philosophy School had been very deficient in their Exercises and other- 
ways much retarded in their Studies for Want of a Library furnished with 
suitable Books in the different Branches of Science, the Clerk was there- 
fore directed to acquaint the Trustees by the next written Notices that a 
Proposal was under consideration for granting a sum of money to be laid 
out in purchasing an assortment of approved Authors for the Use of the 
College, a list of which was laid before the Trustees at this Meeting. 

No further reference to this present effort appears, but it 
was successful. On 9 February, 1762, 

Mr William Dunlap having been so good as to make a present of some 
books to the College, the Catalogue was read over and the Books 
examined therewith having been first placed in their proper order upon 
Shelves. 

And two years later we find the subject a matter of action ; on. 
10 April, 1764, 

Mr Peters and Mr Duche are appointed a Committee to inspect the 
College Library, taking Professor Ewing to their Assistance, and to com- 
pare it with the Catalogue which after their examination is to be inserted 
in the Minutes. And further that they examine the Apparatus for Experi- 
mental Philosophy and compare it with the Catalogue, which is likewise to 
be inserted in the Minutes ; 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 337 

which latter however, the Clerk failed to do, and thus deprived 
us of the pleasure of knowing the works of a College Library 
at that day. 

Professor Ewing's name first appeared in the Minutes of 
22 November, 1758, when provision had to be made to supply 
Mr. Smith's place, who was then granted leave to depart for 
England : 

The President further acquainted the Trustees that Mr Ewing, late 
Professor and teacher of the Mathematics in the new College erected at 
Princeton in New Jersey, was represented to him as a Person capable of 
continuing Mr Smith's Lectures in the Philosophical Classes, and of 
instructing the Students in the several Branches of Knowledge alloted to 
Mr Smith, and that it was believed he would readily give his Assistance in 
the Academy till Mr Smith's return. The Trustees desired Mr Peters 
would immediately write to Mr Ewing to know if he would supply the 
Place of Mr Smith in the Philosophical Classes, and if he should accept, 
and be found capable of this service then to engage him on such Terms 
as could be agreed to, to be paid by Mr Smith out of his Salary. [And 
with further concern for the College, whose interests doubtless felt the 
depressing effects of all the political turmoil in which its head was 
involved,] The Professors were ordered to attend upon this occasion and 
desire respectively to give their assistance in their respective services to the 
Students under Mr Smith's care and to Mr Ewing or whoever else should 
be got to supply his Place, and they with the utmost Cheerfulness, each for 
himself, declared Nothing should be wanting in their Power to serve the 
Students and likewise Mr Ewing or any other Gentleman who should be 
employed to do Mr. Smith's Duty. 

At this meeting attended Messrs. Peters, White, Cadwalader, 
Allen, Stedman, Maddox, P.Bond, M'Call, Mifflin, Inglis, T. 
Bond, Plumsted, Turner and Shippen. It was a grave moment, 
and called out a larger number than customary of the Trustees; 
two of whom, Maddox and Mifflin, were now to meet with them 
no more. 

At the following meeting, on 12 December, 

the President acquainted the Trustees that having wrote to Mr. Ewing, 
according to the Desire of the Trustees at the last Meeting he had been 
kind enough to come to Town, and had, by Way of Trial, assisted Mr 
Alison in reading the Lectures and giving the Instructions to the Studeitts 
in the highest classes in the same Manner Mr. Smith used to do, and 



33S History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

appeared to be extremely well qualified and the Students having expressed 
their Satisfaction to Mr Peters he should, with their leave, proceed to engage 
his Service upon the best Terms he could make with him, which they 
•desired might be done. 

Thus was begun a connection with the institution which 
lasted until Dr. Ewing's death in 1802; appointed Pro- 
fessor of Natural Philsophy in 1762, he was made Provost 
of the new institution which in 1779 took the place of the 
College and Academy, and in turn became the first Provost of 
the University of Pennsylvania, the institution which carried on 
the work and the traditions of both, 

Vice-Provost Alison was ably assisted by Mr. Ewing, and 
the Senior Class proceeded without interruption to the com- 
pletion of their studies. On 6 April, 1759, the Trustees met 
" in the common Hall," namely Messrs. Peters, White, Cad- 
walader, Turner, Stedman, E. Shippen, M'Call, Inglis, Strettell, 
T. Bond, Plumsted, P. Bond, Chew, W. Shippen, and Leech, 
and attended 

a Public Examination held in the presence of the Governor, several 
strangers of Distinction, and many of the Citizens, when the undernamed 
Students were examined, 

Samuel Powel Samuel Keene 

William Paca Alexander Lawson 

John Beard Nathaniel Chapman 

William Edmiston 
[and on the day following, the day being Saturday] the examination was 
continued and the Students having acquitted themselves to the Satis- 
faction of the Trustees and all present, it was the unanimous opinion of 
the Trustees that they should be admitted to the first Degree of the 
Batchelor of Arts ; and that the Commencement should be held on the 
eighth of June, and Notice be given thereof in the Gazette. 

At this last meeting, 

the Reverend Mr Hector Alison and the Reverend Mr John Ewing, Assis- 
tant Professor of Natural Philosophy in the absence of the Provost, 
petitioned that the honorary Degree of Master of Arts might be conferred 
upon them at the next commencement ; and it appearing that they merited 
the same, their Request was granted. 

At the meeting on 8 May, Messrs. Peters, Coleman and 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 339 

Edward Shipper) alone attended, but the minute of their pro- 
•ceedings recites : 

The two Charity Schools were visited, the Boys and Girls examined 
as to their Reading, Writing and casting Accounts, and it appeared that they 
•were carefully instructed. The copy Books of the Boys in the Latin School 
•were likewise examined and it is recommended to Prof. Beveridge that the 
Boys attended their writing more diligently. 



LIL 

The second Commencement Day arrived, 7 June, 1759, and 
was duly advertised, " at which time the Company of all that 
please to attend will be very acceptable." ^ The Trustees met, 
and the three undergraduates who met with no Commencement 
in 1758, Andrew and James Allen and John Morris, 

reminded the Trustees that they had finished their Studies and had under- 
gone a pubHc Examination last year, ^ and were favored with their 
Approbation, and therefore, with their leave, they proposed to offer them- 
selves for the Degree of Batchelor of Arts, and requested a Mandate to the 
Faculty to admit them, 

which was granted them; and then "the Vice Provost presented 
to the Trustees " the young men who had passed their Exami- 
nation in April, together with John Hall, 

as Candidates for the Degree of Batchelor of Arts, informing them, that 
they had finished their Studies, had undergone a public examination, and 
were well qualified ; whereupon the Trustees issued the written Mandate 
under their Hands and the privy seal of their College, directed to the 
Provost, Vice Provost and Professors requiring them to admit said Students 
to the Degree of Batchelor of Arts, and likewise they gave a like Mandate 
to admit the Reverend Mr Hector Alison, now on Duty as Chaplain in the 
Pennsylvania Regiment, and the Reverend Mr John Ewing, their present 
Lecturer in Natural Philosophy to the honorary Degree of Master of Arts . 

^ Penna. Gazette, 7 June, 1759. 

^ This may have been had on Monday, 14 August, 1758, notice for which was 
advertised in the Penna. Gazette, 10 August. 



340 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The minute then proceeds to narrate, by way of making a 
record of the Commencement exercises : 

After which the Trustees repaired to the Academy Hall, preceded by 
the candidatesjfor Degrees in their Gowns, and the members of the Faculty 
in their Gowns, and were followed by the Masters and Tutors of the 
several schools at the head of the Junior Classes aud the Scholars, who 
walked in Procession, two by two ; and having respectively taken their 
Seats, the Commencement was opened by Prayers, performed after the 
Rites of the Church of England by the Reverend Mr. Peters, President. 

The honorable the Governor, several officers of the Army, a great 
many Gentlemen of this and the other Colonies and a number of Ladies 
and Citizens were pleased to favor us with their Presence. 

There was a great Variety of entertaining Orations and public Dispu- 
tations in the Latin and English languages, in which the Students, acquit- 
ting themselves with universal applause, the Rev Mr Alison, who presided 
according to Charter, in the absence of the Provost, conferred the several 
Degrees as directed by the two Mandates. 

At the close of this Ceremony, which was performed in a very solemn 
Manner, the Vice Provost made a serious Address to the Graduates, exhort- 
ing them to fear God, prosecute their Studies, and make it the whole 
Endeavor of their Lives to become as useful as possible in their respective 
Stations, and to consider this World as preparative for the Fruition of our 
holy GOD, in that glorious State of Immortality, which through the Merits 
of our blessed Saviour, was to succeed this transitory life. And then con- 
cluded with a suitable Prayer. 

It gave the Trustees a very sensible Pleasure to hear the Commenda- 
tions that were given of the whole Performances by almost every Body 
present. 

Of the distinguished class who received their degrees this 
day, Andrew Allen and Samuel Powel in later years became 
Trustees of the College, the former being a member of the 
Council ; William Paca became a Signer of the Declaration of 
Independence and Governor of Maryland ; John Morris became 
Master of the Rolls of Pennsylvania ; John Beard a Tutor in 
the College ; and William Edmiston and Samuel Keene entered 
the ministry. By the Treasurer's books we find that Keene was 
tutoring during his last year at College. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 341 



LIII. 

It was during the controversies of the past year and before 
Mr. Ewing was called to take the Provost's classes in his absence, 
that another Professor was added to the Faculty. At the meet- 
ing of the Trustees on 13 June, " the State of the Latin School 
was taken into consideration ; Mr. Alison declared that the 
Philosophy Schools were so full, that in his present state of 
health he could not continue to attend and recommended it to 
the Trustees to supply that place as soon as possible." Where- 
upon, 

Mr Peters informed the Trustees that Mr Beveridge was come to town in 
consequence of the Letters wrote to him by Mr Smith, Mr Alison and Mr 
Jackson; that he had examined him in a close manner, by which he was 
satisfied as to his Knowledge of the Latin, and as his Testimonials certified 
the same, as well as that he was a man of Virtue and good morals, he was 
of opinion that he would make an excellent Master. [Testimonials were 
submitted from] the Ruddimans and others of eminent character in Edin- 
burgh and from the gentlemen Trustees of Hereford School. [He] was 
called in, and after sometime spent in Conversation, withdrew. The Ques- 
tion hereupon was put whether he should be appointed to the Professorship 
of the Languages, and the care of the Latin School, [and the vote was 
unanimous in his favor.] He was called in again and accepted on the 
same terms with Mr Jackson, but acquainted the Trustees that some 
time in August, his affairs required his being at Hereford, and prayed 
the Trustees he might be allowed to go there in order to settle his concerns 
and bring his Family to Town. In his younger years he taught a grammar 
school in the city of Edinburgh, under the particular patronage of the 
great Mr Ruddiman. 

William Smith, in the last number of the American Maga- 
zine, October, 1758, speaks warmly of his attainments as a classi- 
cal scholar, and quotes some of his Latin verses : 

By the specimens he has given, he will undoubtedly be acknowledged 
one of the ablest masters in the Latin Tongue on this continent ; and it is 
a singular happiness to the institution that on the vacancy of a professor of 
languages, the Trustees were directed to such an excellent choice, as it must 
be the certain means of increasing the number of students from all parts, 
with such as are desirous of attaining the Latin tongue in its native purity 
and beauty.^ 

1 Atnerican Magazine, p. 640. 



342 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

Alexander Graydon says of him " he was no disciplinarian, 
and consequently very unequal to the management of seventy 
or eighty boys." From his student's view, he records this 
description of him : 

The person whose pupil I was consequently to become, was Mr John 
Beveridge, a native of Scotland, who retained the smack of his vernacular 
tongue in its primitive purity. His acquaintance with the language he 
taught, was, I believe justly deemed to be very accurate and profound. 
But as to his other acquirements, after excepting the game of backgammon, 
in which he was said to excel, truth will not warrant me in saying a great 
deal. He was, however, diligent and laborious in his attention to his 
school ; and had he possessed the faculty of making himself beloved by 
his scholars, and of exciting their emulation and exertion, nothing would 
have been wanting to an entire qualification for his office. But, unfortu- 
nately, he had no dignity of character, and was no less destitute of the art 
of making himself respected than beloved. Though not perhaps to be 
complained of as intolerably severe, he yet made a pretty free use of the 
ratan and the ferule, but this to very Itttle purpose. * * * So entire 
was the want of respect towards him, and so liable was he to be imposed 
upon, that one of the larger boys, for a wager, once pulled off his wig, 
which he effected by suddenly twitching it from his head under pretence of 
brushing from it a spider ; and the unequivocal insult was only resented by 
the peevish exclamation of Jioot inon ! ^ 

Tn preparing their plans for the Fall term of 1759 — for the 
Provost was yet detained in England — some changes were made 
necessary in the corps of teachers. Dr. Peters reported to the 
Trustees, 14 August, that 

Mr, Kinnersley still continued very bad, and that he had not been able 
for some time past to attend the English School, and that he had prevailed 
upon Mr. Montgomery to supply his Place, and he had the Pleasure to let 
them know that the Scholars were well instructed. * * * Mr. Grew was 
fallen into Consumption, and not being able to attend the school, Mr. 
Pratt the Writing Master, for the present supply' d his Place. ^ * * 
Mr. Latta being obliged, in consequence of an order of the Synod, to go to 
Virginia and Carolina this Fall, and there to officiate as an itinerant Preacher, 
had given them notice that he could not continue after the middle of 
October. * * * Mr. Morton now one of the Tutors in the Latin 
School had given them Notice of his Intentions to accept an Invitation he 
had received to take the charge of the Public School at Bohemia 

"^Memoirs, p. 35. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 343 

[Maryland], and made them the most grateful acknowledgments for the 
many Favors they had conferred upon him and particularly for their late 
Advancement of him into the Latin School, intimating at the same 
time that if there should be a vacancy in the English School and they 
should think him worthy of that Professorship, it might induce him to alter 
his intentions.^ 

At the meeting of 1 1 September, Mr. Montgomery, upon his 
petition, was appointed an Usher in the Latin School on trial, 
to fill one of the 

Places which were Vacant in the Latin School by the going away of Mr 
Latta and Mr Morton, and Mr Peters and Mr Alison reporting that he was 
a good Latin and Greek Scholar, and in other respects well qualified. 

And at the meeting of 9 October, he was confirmed as an Usher 
and John Beard, a graduate at the the last Commencement, was 
also elected an Usher in the Latin School. Joseph Montgomery, 
who was a graduate of Princeton in the class of 1755, did not 
continue in this connection longer than May, 1760. He entered 
the Presbyterian ministry, and was a member of the Continental 
Congress from 1780 to 1784.^ Mr. Grew soon fell a victim to 
his consumption ; and at the meeting of 1 1 December fol- 
lowing 

It was further agreed that our want of a Mathematical Master should be 
advertised in the next Gazette, and the Provost was instructed to draw and 
insert a proper advertisement. 

Within a twelvemonth two vacancies occurred among the 
Trustees by death : to succeed Mr. Francis, Edward Shippen, 
jr., his pupil and his son-in-law, and the nephew of Dr. William 
Shippen the Trustee, was elected on 12 September, 1758 ; and to 
succeed Mr Mifflin, William Coxe, also a son-in-law of Mr Fran- 
cis, was elected on 11 July, 1759. 



^ Mr. Morton subsequently took orders in the Church of England, being 
ordained by the Bishop of London 17 March, 1760, and licensed for Missionary work 
in New Jersey. Later w.e find him Rector of St. Thomas' Church, Hunterdon Co., 
New Jersey, and officiating at Easton, Penna. Penna. Magazine, x. 258. Perry's 
History of the American Episcopal Church, i. 243. 

* Memoir by his great grandson, Hon. J. Montgomery Forster. 



344 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LIV. 

Provost Smith, as has been seen, was detained in England 
longer than was anticipated, and he arrived home early in 
October, the day before the monthly meeting of the Trustees. 
On the 9th, only three of the Trustees being in attendance, 
Messrs. Peters, Stedman and Strettell, business was proceeded 
with, the Provost was received, and the pleasant event recorded 
at full in the Minutes : 

The Reverend Mr Provost Smith arrived yesterday from England and 
was very kindly and affectionately received. He expressed great concern for 
his long absence, and hoped that as he had obtained the Royal order in 
his favour, he should for the future be able to discharge his Duty without 
any interruption. He informed the Trustees that this Academy was in 
high Esteem in Great Britain and was well assured the Institution would 
find many warm and good Friends among the best personages in that King- 
dom, and having had the Honour of receiving the Degree of Doctor of 
Divinity from the University of Oxford which had been conferred on him 
at the joint request and recommendation of the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and many of the principal Bishops, he produced his diploma, the preamble 
of which being much to his credit, as well as the credit of this Seminary, is 
here inserted^ [at full in the minutes in the original Latin]. 

But a more substantial gift than this was the subject of the 
next minute : 

The Provost likewise brought over with him, and delivered to the 
Trustees, a Deed of Gift from the Honorable Thomas Penn assigning over 
to them in their Corporate Capacity for the use of the Institution his fourth 
part of the Manor of Perkasie in Bucks County containing Two Thousand 
Five hundred Acres which the Trustees considered as a noble Benefaction 
from that worthy gentleman, and was received with a due sense of 
gratitude. 

Thomas Penn's concern for the College had been kept warm 
by his Secretary, the President of the Trustees, who had furnished 
him from time to time — as we have seen — with the work of the 



1 This refers to him, reverendutn et egregium virum Gulielmum Smith, ex 
Academia Aberdonensi in Artibus raagistrum, et Collegii apud Philadelphiam in 
Pennsylvania Prrepositum, etc., etc., but does not allude to Aberdeen's Doc- 
torate. In the Minutes of the Trustees the ex Academia Aberdonensis in Artibus 
Magistrum is omitted. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 345 

pupils to inform him as to the progress of the College and its influ- 
ence upon them ; and his interest in it was further fostered by a 
reasonable desire that the province, which was of his Father's 
settlement, and bore his name, should thus be honored by an 
educational establishment of growing repute. And the young 
Scotch Provost won his sympathies and earned his regard, and 
he now made him the happy messenger of his kind thoughts 
and the bearer of his benefaction to the College. 

The Trustees and Students were shortly afforded one of 
those civil exhibitions, so common yet so useful in a loyal 
Province, which the Provost was skilful in devising and execut- 
ing. The December meeting found present Messrs. Peters, 
Plumsted, Cadwalader, Turner, Chew, Allen, Coleman, W. Ship- 
pen, Stedman,'Strettell, White, P. Bond, M'Call, and 

Mr Hamilton, who was again appointed by the Honourable the Proprie- 
taries to the Government of this Province, having been pleased to resume 
his seat as one of the Trustees. ^ * * * And being received at the Gate, 
was conducted up to the Experiment Room, to take his place among the 
other Trustees. * * * and after paying him their Compliments of 
Congratulation on his safe arrival and Reappointment they attended him 
into the Hall ^ followed by the Masters, Tutors, Graduates and Students, 
in orderly procession, where being seated the following address, and con- 
gratulatory verses were delivered in the presence of a large number of 
Citizens.* 

1. The address by the Provost, attended by the rest of the Faculty. 

2. The Latin verses, presented by the Rev. Jacob Duche, A. M., . 
attended by a deputation from the Graduates and Philosophy Schools ; the 
verses being written by Professor Beveridge. 

Nonne hinc Schulkillius amnis, 
Hinc Delavarus item, sedesque paterna salutant. 

3. The English Verses, by Mr William Hamilton, attended by a 
deputation from the Lower Schools. 

O ! Friend to Science, Liberty and Truth, 
Patron of Virtue, Arts and rising Youth ; 
Indulge our weak Attempts ! with Smiles approve 
This humble Boon of Gratitude and Love. 



2 He had not attended the Trustees' meetings since that of 17 August, 1757. 
^ Pennsylvania Gazette, 27 December, 1 759. 
* Minutes of Trustees. 



346 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

In answer to these the Governor replied : 
Gentleman of the Faculty : I thank you for this Kind Address of your 
Body, and for the Marks of Regard shewn to me by the Youth educated 
under your Care. 

I should think myself greatly wanting in the Duties of my Station, if 
I did not countenance every Institution for the Advancement of useful 
Knowledge : and I am so sensible of the particular good Tendency of this 
Seminary, whereof I became an early Promoter, that I shall always be 
happy in affording it every reasonable Degree of Encouragement in my 
Power. 

I am glad to find it growing in Reputation, by means of the Youths 
raised in it, and doubt not but it will continue to do so, under the Direction 
of Gentlemen, who have given unquestionable Proofs of their Capacity, and, 
on that Account, have received the highest honors from some of the most 
learned Societies in Great Britain. 

After these grateful exercises, instead of proceeding to a 
lunch and social intercourse, the Trustees returned to the Exper- 
iment or Apparatus Room, and resuming their business, took 
kindly action towards the aid of the widow of Professor Grew. 

A scheme was now on foot to make all the exhibitions and 
services in the Hall more attractive by securing an organ for 
their accompaniment. The Pennsylvania Gazette of 27 Decem- 
ber, 1757, tells us : 

By permission and particular desire towards the raising a Fund for 
purchasing an organ to the College Hall in this city and instructing the 
charity children in Psalmody, at the Theatre, in Society Hill, this evening 
will be presented, the tragical and interesting History of George Bamwell. 
N. B. As this Benefit is wholly intended for improving our Youth in the 
divine art of Psalmody and Church Music, in order to render the Enter- 
tainment of the Town more compleat at Commencements and other publie 
occasions in our College * * * To begin exactly at 6 o'clock. 

We see here the hand of young Francis Hopkinson, whose 
musical accomplishments were being turned to pleasant use not 
only on behalf of his Alma Mater, but to Christ Church as well, 
where the Vestry a few years later voted him their thanks for 
his " great and constant pains in teaching and instructing the 
children." The organ was procured and in place for the com- 
mencement of 1760, when 

The Orations, Disputations, and other Academical Exercises were 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 347 

agreeably intermixed with sundry Anthems and Pieces of Psalmody, sung 
by the Charity Boys, attended with an organ, which the Liberality of the 
Town lately bestowed. At the close of the whole, the Audience was most 
delightfully entertained with two Anthems sung by several Ladies and 
Gentlemen, who have not been ashamed to employ their Leisure Hours in 
learning to celebrate their Master's Praises with Grace and Elegance.^ 

And we have already noted how Hopkinson " conducted the 
organ with that bold masterly Hand for which he is celebrated."" 



LV. 

The Commencement of 1760, on i May, we are told, "was 
held in the College of this city, before a vast Concourse of Peo- 
ple of all Ranks and Distinctions," and the Degree of Bachelor 
of Arts was conferred upon Patrick Alison, Chaplain to Congress 
in 1776, Thomas Bond, jr., son of Dr. Bond, Lindsay Coates 
Robert Goldsborough, of Maryland, Whitmel Hill, of North 
Carolina, John Johnson, Thomas Mifflin, Governor of Pennsyl- 
vania from 1790 to 1799, and Robert Yorke; and the Degree 
of Master of Arts was conferred upon Duche, Hopkinson, Latta, 
Magaw, Morgan, and Williamson in course, and upon Josiah 
Martin, jr., formerly with those of the class of 1757, and who 
took the honorary degree of B. A. with them in that year, and 
Joseph Montgomery who earned his degree at Princeton in the 
class of 1755. 

The Trustees were of opinion that it might be of service to the 
Institution to confer Honorary Degrees on some of the Ministers and Gen- 
tlemen of this and the Neighboring Colonies who were of distinguished 
character for their usefulness and Learning. And it appearing to them 
that the following Gentlemen were such, a Mandate issued under their 
Hands and the Lesser Seal, requiring the Faculty to admit them to the 
Honorary Degree of Master of Arts; viz. : the Reverend Mr Samuel Davis, 



* Pennsylvania Gazette, 15 May, 1760. The organ "was placed in the centre- 
of the East Gallery facing the Pulpit," according to the Minutes, p. 117. 



34^ History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

President of the College of New Jersey ; the Reverend Mr Philip Reading, 
of Appoquinimink ; the Reverend Mr Thomas Barton at Lancaster ; 
the Reverend Mr Samuel Cooke at Shrewsbury ; the Reverend Mr Robert 
M'Kean at Brunswick ; the Reverend Mr Sampson Smith at Chestnut 
Level ; the Reverend Mr Matthew Wilson in Kent County. 

The opinion of the value of these degrees was not long 
maintained by the Trustees. When Dr. Alison, in 1762, in the 
Provost's absence, made sundry recommendations in line with 
the action of 1760, the Trustees at their meeting of 11 May 
that year, 

desired the President to acquaint Dr. Ahson that it was the unanimous 
opinion of the Trustees present that the College must lose Reputation by 
conferring too many Honorary Degrees, and that for the future the Faculty 
would not proceed to the Recommendation of Persons for Honorary 
Degrees without first conferring with the Trustees. 

Only a few weeks after the Commencement Archdeacon 
Burnaby in his Travels through the Middle Settlements in 
North America passed through Philadelphia and among the 
institutions in the city he refers to is the "Academy or College 
originally built for a tabernacle for Mr. Whitefield ; " and adds 
" this institution is erected upon an admirable plan, and is by 
far the best school for learning throughout America."'^ The 
day before the Commencement of 1760, there assembled in 
Christ Church the first Convention of the Church of England 
Clergy, of which Dr. Smith was elected President ; and of the 
number were Messrs. Reading, Barton, Cooke and McKean, 



^ Travels, London, 1798, p. 66. Dr. Burnaby's comments on the Pennsyl- 
vanian of the period are graphic if not flattering. "As to character, they are a frugal 
and industrious people; not remarkably courteous and hospitable to strangers, unless 
particularly recommended to them; but rather, like the denizens of most commercial 
cities, the reverse. They are great republicans, and have fallen into the same errors 
in their ideas of independency as most of tire other colonies have. They are by far 
the most enterprising people upon the continent. As they consist of several nations, 
and talk several languages, they are aliens in some respect to Great Britain ; nor can 
it be expected that they should have the same filial attachment to her which her own 
immediate offspring have. However, they are quiet, and concern themselves but 
little, except about getting money." But as a flattering offset to this, the Arch- 
deacon adds: "The women are exceedingly handsome and polite; they are 
naturally sprightly and fond of pleasure; and, upon the whole, are much more 
agreeable and accomplished than the men. Since their intercourse with the English 
officers, they are greatly improved ; and, without flattery, many of them would not 
make bad figures in the first assemblies in Europe." p. 67. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 349 

who were now honored with the College degree. Dr. Smith's 
sermon, preached before the Convention on the day subsequent 
to the Commencement, forms the sixth in the Volume of his 
Discourses of 1762. A second Convention was held in 1761, 
and the clergy who were attending it went to the Commence- 
ment of that year which was held on Saturday, 23 May, in a 
body, when Dr. Smith preached in the College Hall before 
them. ^ This 

was held in the College of this City, before a vast concourse of People of 
all Ranks. * * * There was performed in the Forenoon an elegant 
Anthem composed by James Lyons, A. M., of New Jersey College, and 
in the afternoon an Ode, sacred to the Memory of our late gracious Sov- 
ereign George II., written and set to Music in a very grand and masterly 
Taste by Francis HoPKiNSON, Esq., A. M. , of the College of this city. 
A sett of Ladies and Gentlemen in order to do Honour to the Entertain- 
ment of the Day, were kindly pleased to perform a Part both of the 
Anthem and Ode, accompanied by the Organ, which made the Music a 
very compleat and agreeable Entertainment to all present. 

An all day Commencement in our time would not be per- 
mitted in the busy life of the present; but certainly the young 
graduates of that time must have had a higher esteem and love 
for their Alma Mater who thus made the occasion of their 
entering upon their first Degrees the scene of a two sessions' 
entertainment which was so *' compleat and agreeable " to all 
present. 

At this commencement there graduated, William Flem- 
ing, Marcus Grimes, James Hooper, John Huston, William 
Kinnersley, the son of the Professor, Matthew McHenry, 
Abraham Ogden, Richard Peters, the nephew of Dr. Peters, 
Joseph Shippen, a nephew of Dr. William Shippen, Tench 
Tilghman, Washington's Aide-de-Camp, Henry Waddell, Alex- 
ander Wilcocks, and Jasper Yeates, ^ afterwards a Justice of the 



^ Smith, i. 276. Pennsylvania Gazette, 28 May, 1761. This is Sermon 
XVIII, of Smith's Works of 1803, ii. 337, and is there described as "first preached 
before the Trustees, Masters and Scholars of the College and Academy of Philadel- 
phia at the Anniversary Commencement, May, 1 761 ; " but it is the same sermon 
which he preached at the first commencement, and is known as No. V. in his 
Discourses of 1759. 

^ His daughter Mary married in 1791, Charles Smith, the son of Provost 
Smith. 



350 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ; a class of thirteen, the largest 
up to the year 1770. Of these, Peters and Wilcocks became in 
later years Trustees of the College.* But two Masters' Degrees 
were conferred, namely, on the Rev. Isaac Eaton, and the Rev. 
Samuel Stillman. 

The Commencements of 1762 and 1763 were without 
the presence of the Provost, who was during the period 
covering these events on his tour through England making 
collections from the friends of education in the colonies 
towards the new College which was growing up with bright 
promises in Pennsylvania; and 1764 was also without any 
graduating Class, Dr. Smith arriving home in June of that 
year. While his continued absence affected the number of 
students in attendance m the instruction of the College, his 
visit abroad proved of that substantial benefit which enabled 
the Trustees to strengthen financially the foundations of the 
institution and to enlarge their abilities in accommodating the 
coming numbers of the future years. 



* It was on 4 September of this year that Dr. Smith preached on the Great Duty 
of Public Worship at the opening services of St. Peter's Church, Philadelphia. This 
forms part II. of No. VI. in the Discourses of 1759, and No. VII. in the Discourses 
of 1762. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 351 



LVI. 

In the midst of the concerns of the Trustees for the man- 
agement of their Trust, a new question had arisen in 1760, 
bearing on the desire of some of the Professors to take private 
pupils. The matter must have been of moment, for serious con- 
sideration was given to it by them at their meeting of 8 July in 
that year. 

Mr Peters, at the Instance of the Faculty, acquainted the Trustees 
that several applications had been made to one of the Professors, to give 
private Instructions after School Hours to some of the Boys that were under 
his Care during the Day, but that it was not thought proper to do anything 
of this kind without the particular direction of the Trustees, to which all 
the Masters declared themselves always ready to conform. The matter 
was fully debated at the Board, and being represented that this Method of 
allowing the publick Professors to become private Tutors to any parcel of 
the Youth under their general Management would be attended with many 
Inconveniences; that it would lead to disagreeable distinctions among the 
Youth, discourage many of the poorer sort who could not afford the 
Expence of private Tuition, and subject the Masters to the suspicion of 
partiality in Favour of those who could afford it, as well as bring the Insti- 
tution into Disrepute by encouraging a Notion that the general Scheme of 
Education was not sufficient without these private helps. The Trustees in 
•consideration of all this, and in Regard to their original Faith to the Pub- 
lick (viz: to keep all the Youth, as much as might be on an equal footing) 
were unanimously of Opinion that none of the Publick Professors should 
make any Distinctions among the Youth under their care in respect to 
their Tuition, but that such parent or Guardians as were desirous of having 
any extraordinary helps for any particular Scholar or Pupil might supply 
themselves with private Tutors where they could be found. 

So far for the regulation by the Trustees of what was 
claimed to be ill practices among the Professors. The latter 
themselves felt the need of revising the Rules of the school, and 
on ID February, 1761, 

having prepared a Draught of several necessary Statutes the same was 
presented by them to the Trustees for their approbation and being read 
paragraph by paragraph several Debates arose thereupon, and the Presi- 
dent, Mr Stedman, Mr Coxe, and Mr Willing were appointed a Committee 
to revise and amend the Draught agreeable to the Sense of the Trustees 



352 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

first acquainting the Faculty with their Sentiments in the several Points in 
which they differed from them and conferring with them thereupon. 

At the following meeting-, lo March, young Duche now 
taking his seat as Trustee. 

Mr Peters from the Committee appointed to examine the Draught of the 
Laws proposed by the Faculty and read at the last Meeting of the Trustees 
reported that they had conferred with the Provost and Vice Provost there- 
upon, and had made such Alterations therein as to them appeared just 
and proper which they now submitted to the Trustees, and their amended 
Draught being read, debated, altered, settled, and approved of, they are 
now ordered to be entered as Statutes in Force. 

These are very primitive and particular, and in strong con- 
trast to the broader statutes of reason and self-respect which 
prevail to-day. One need not wonder that the boys of that day 
were stung into forwardness and mischief, by a restraint that 
their spirits rebelled against. The boys of to-day are the same 
in natural force aud youthful elasticity as were their ancestors in 
adolescence ; but education in its many changes within a cen- 
tury has submitted to none greater than the abandonment of 
impossible rules of propriety and frequent chastisements. These 
Rules and Ordinances of 1761 close with the word chastised, 
but the alternative is a money penalty, and the worth of a chas- 
tisement is but sixpence : the pence are numbered but the 
strokes may be without number. Who would not rather suffer 
the certain pence rather than the uncertain strokes. Alexander 
Graydon entered the Academy about this period ; but a visita- 
tion of Yellow Fever early afforded him a welcome holiday. 
"About the year 1760 or 1761, to the best of my recollection, 
the city was alarmed by a visitation of the Yellow Fever. 
* * * The schools were shut up, and a vacation of five or 
six weeks its fortunate consequence."^ He describes some of 
his early duties. "The task of the younger boys, at least," for 
he was but about eight years of age when he entered, 

consisted in learning to read and to write their mother tongue grammati- 
cally, and one day in the week (I think Friday) was set apart for the recita- 
tion of select passages in poetry and prose. For this purpose each scholar, 

^ Memoirs, p. 43. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 353 

in his turn, ascended the stage, and said his speech, as the phrase was. 
This speech was carefully taught him by his master, both with respect to its 
pronunciation, and the action deemed suitable to its several parts. ^ 

Let us have his account of his first fight, before referred to : 
A few days after I had been put under the care of Mr. Kinnersley, I 
was told by my classmates, that it was necessary for me to fight a battle 
with some one, in order to establish my claim to the honor of being an 
Academy boy; that this could not be dispensed with, and that they would 
select for me a suitable antagonist, one of my match, whom after school I 
must fight, or be looked upon as a coward. I must confess that I did not 
at all relish the proposal. * * * i absolutely declined the proposal; 
although I had too much of that feeling about me, which some might call 
false honor, to represent the case to the master, which would at once have 
extricated me from my difficulty, and brought down condign punishment 
on its imposers. Matters thus went on until school was out, when I found 
that the lists were appointed, and that a certain John Appowen, a lad, who, 
though not quite so tall, yet better set and older than myself, was pitted 
against me. With increased pertinacity I again refused the combat, and 
insisted on being permitted to go home unmolested. On quickening my 
pace for this purpose, my persecutors, with Appowen at their head, followed 
close at my heels. Upon this I moved faster and faster, until my retreat 
became a flight too unequivocal and inglorious for a man to relate of him- 
self, had not Homer furnished some apology for the procedure, in making 
the heroic Hector thrice encircle the walls of Troy, before he could find 
courage to encounter the implacable Achilles. To cut the story short, my 
spirit could no longer brook an oppression so intolerable, and stung to the 
quick at the term coward which was lavished upon me, I made a halt and 
faced my pursuers. A combat immediately ensued between Appowen and 
myself, which for some time, was maintained on each side, with equal 
vigour and determination, when unluckily I received his fist directly in my 
gullet The blow for a time depriving me of breath, and the power of 
resistance, victory declared for my adversary, though not without the 
acknowledgment of the party, that I had at last behaved well, and shown 
myself not unworthy the name of an Academy boy. Being thus estab- 
lished, I had no more battles imposed upon me.* 



'^ Memoirs, p. 28. ^ Ibid, p. 28. 



354 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

LVII. 

The College was now attracting students from the country 
and other provinces. Indeed, each of the graduating classes 
thus far had members not natives of Philadelphia, viz : William- 
son of Chester County, Alison of Lancaster County, Pennsyl- 
vania ; Keene, Paca, Goldsborough, and Tilghman, of Maryland ; 
Ogden of New Jersey ; and Hill of North Carolina ; to which 
might be added Latta and Magaw of Ireland. And concern 
filled their minds as to the influence upon their prospects should 
they be unable to assure their friends at a distance of comfort- 
able quarters for their sons. The subject took form at the Trus- 
tee's meeting of lO March, 1761, the same at which the new 
Rules and Ordinances were affirmed. 

Some of the Trustees mentioned the Inconveniences arising from the 
Scholars being boarded at such great Distances and in such different parts 
of the City as well as the great Expence that Strangers were put to by the 
late high demands that was made for their Board on account of the rise of 
Provisions, etc., whereupon it was considered whether it might not be better 
to have some additional Buildings erected on the Ground belonging to the 
Academy that might hold a number of the Scholars that came from other 
Provinces and the West Indies, and put them upon a Collegiate way of 
living, as is done in the Jersey and New York Colleges. But on inquiring 
of the Treasurer what might be the state of the Academy Funds and find- 
ing that they had not beforehand above ^^3000. a great part of which was 
in the hands of the several Managers of the Lotteries, it was dropt for the 
Present as being utterly inconsistent with our capital. 

At the meeting of 14 April, only Messrs. Inglis, Stedman, 
and Duche attending with the President, the subject was the 
topic of discussion. Dr. Peters regretted the smallness of 
attendance as it was desirable to make publick 

the Substance of what passed at the last meeting with respect to a Sett of 
Buildings for the Lodging and Dieting a Number of Students, as he found 
it was most heartily desired by a very great Number of respectable 
People in the City, and as the Town was now full of Officers and Strangers 
many gave it as their opinion that a Lottery to raise ;^2ooo. for such a use- 
ful Purpose would soon fill, and the other gentlemen likewise saying that 
they had heard the same observations made by many People of Credit as 
well Strangers as Citizens, they had mentioned it occasionally to several of 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 355 

(the Trustees who were all of opinion that the present good Disposition that 
the People were in should not be lost and expecting to have had a larger 
meeting, Mr. Stedman had drawn up two Schemes which were read. 

The subject slumbered until the meeting of 10 November 
following, when 

the President, Mr. Stedman, Mr. Willing, and Mr. Cox, having formerly- 
had under consideration a Plan for additional Buildings were appointed a 
Committee on this occasion; and they were desired to meet upon this Busi- 
ness immediately, and as soon as they should have perfected Matters & 
were ready to make their Report, the President was desired to call a special 
meeting, 

which was held on the 28th, there being present Messrs. Peters, 
Cadwalader, Stedman, Cox, Turner, Allen, Duche, White, 
Inghs, WilHng, Shippen, Leech and Chew, when the Report of 
the Committee was submitted and adopted. As it contains in 
Dr. Peters' words a statement of the present condition and the 
promising prospects of the institution, it merits the entire inser- 
tion here. Containing as it does the bold and yet practical sug- 
gestion of soliciting funds from the Mother Country, and asking 
Dr. Smith to be their mouthpiece for the same, it in fact opens 
a view of one of the most interesting periods in the history of 
the College, and which proved to be one of those important 
movements in the life of the institution from which great results 
in financial strength and in influence flowed. But for this inci- 
dental desire to put their pupils from abroad " upon a collegiate 
way of living," the suggestion may not have arisen for this 
foreign mission which in the end redounded so much to the 
advantage of the general work they had in hand "for the 
Advancement of Learning for ever." 

But the Committee can speak for themselves : 

Gentlemen. Having been nominated by you as a Committee to 
consider the Ways and Means for improving the State of the Academy 
and compleating its Funds so as to place it on a permanent and respectable 
Footing for the Advancement of Learning for ever. We have had several 
Meetings with the Provost and Vice Provost upon these Topics, and upon 
the whole after mature Deliberation have agreed to recommend the follow- 
ing things, viz: 

I. As it appears to us by a prevailing Objection against this Institution 



356 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

from abroad, that our Youth, especially such of them as are grown in 
years are left to lodge at large in the City, not under the Controul of the 
Masters or any Persons having proper authority over them; by which they 
are exposed to many Avocations, and much unnecessary Expence, the 
thoughts of which have prevented sundry Persons who wish well to the 
Institution from sending their Children to it, some not knowing where to 
lodge them in safety, and others being apprehensive of the great Expence 
attending it : And as a Sense of these Inconveniences put the Trustees 
sometime ago upon solliciting a Sum of Money by way of Lottery partly to 
erect some necessary lodging Rooms to accommodate the Elder part of the 
Youth that come from abroad and partly to rebuild the Charity Schools 
that are in a ruinous condition : 

We are therefore of Opinion that Workmen should now be agreed 
with to go on in the ensuing Summer with one half of the Buildings con- 
tained in the Plan formerly given to us by Mr Robert Smith, which will be 
70 feet long by 30 wide and will have on the Ground Floor two Charity 
Schools, with a Kitchen and a Dining Room, and in the upper Stories 
Sixteen Lodging Rooms, with cellar beneath the whole, which, by an 
Estimate given to us may be executed for ^1500, and the Rent of the 
Rooms at a Moderate Charge may nearly bring the interest of the Money, 
and the chief of those objections will be taken off which sundry Persons 
have not failed to improve to the Disadvantage of this Institution. 

In regard to the Funds we apprehend that if a final Settlement be 
speedily made of the Lottery accounts, and leave be got to sell the Per- 
kasie lands to add to the Capital (which there is no Reason to doubt of 
obtaining on a respectable Apphcation) we should then probably have 
near ^8000. in Bank ; so that if an addition of £6 or 7000 more could be 
speedily procured, the whole put together would furnish an Yearly Income 
sufficient with the Tuition Money, to support the Institution for ever. But 
if this matter should be delayed a few years longer our present Capital 
would be exhausted and the same addition which would now compleat it, 
would then only put us where we are at present, if it could be procured. 

We are therefore of opinion that as the Method of Lotteries which is 
at best but precarious and attended with much Trouble to Individuals 
must speedily fail us, we have no resource but once for all to betake our- 
selves to the Generosity of the Public. And when we consider the 
Encouragement that has heretofore given by the Mother country to Semi- 
naries of Learning erected on this Continent, at a time when the Affairs 
of America were not thought of half the Importance which they are at 
present, and these seminaries far less extensive in their Plan than this 
Academy, and Countenanced by the Governments in which they are 
erected : We cannot entertain the least Doubt, but under our Circum- 
stances a Seminary placed in this large and trading City and which prom- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 357 

ises to be of so much use for the Advancement of true Learning and 
Knowledge, will at this time meet with great Encouragement in England, 
where there are Thousands that want nothing more than opportunities 
of Showing their Beneficence and good will to anything calculated for the 
Benefit of these Colonies, and we have the greatest hopes in this affair 
from the assurance given us by Dr. Smith of the Disposition which he 
found in sundry Persons of Distinction when he was lately in England, to 
befriend this Seminary on a due Application to them and which some of 
them have been pledged to respect in their private Letters to him . 

We therefore most heartily recommended to the Trustees to take this 
Matter into their immediate and most serious Consideration and to engage 
some proper person to go over to England with all convenient Expedition 
and furnish him with proper Recommendations and Credentials in order to 
soUicit the Benevolence of the Good People of Great Britain for such 
further Support of the Institution so that it may be put upon a footing suf- 
ficient to maintain for ever an expedient Number of Professors, Masters, 
and Tutors as well as to enable the Trustees to make such additional Build- 
ings as will obviate the objections made to the Institution in its present 
form for want of Lodging and Superintending the Morals of the Students. 

It is recorded that a 

great majority voted to carry on the whole Buildings, as recommended in 
the Report which was accordingly agreed to provided the Expence did not 
exceed the sum raised by the last Lottery, [and] the Trustees unanimously 
agreed that there w^as a Necessity of nominating some proper person to 
sollicit the Benefactions of their Mother country for the further support of 
this Institution, and it was agreed that Dr Smith was the properest Person 
to undertake the Service. 

And the Committee having intimated 

that in some previous Conversation with him they had reason to believe he 
would be very willing to serve the Institution in this way if it should be 
approved by the Trustees. They therefore desired he might be sent for, 
and the President acquainted him in the name of the Trustees that it was 
their unanimous Desire that he would with all convenient Speed undertake 
a Voyage to England for the Purposes above mentioned, and that they 
would endeavor to supply his place with some proper Person who should in 
his Absence carry on his part of the Lectures in the Philosophy School. 
Dr Smith answered that it might be a little inconvenient to him to under- 
take a Voyage at this Season of the Year, yet he was willing to serve the 
Institution in this or any other Method in his Power ; and further that he 
would make all the Dispatch he could in preparing himself for the Voyage ; 
and had good Hopes from what had passed between him and some Persons 
of Distinction in England, of answering their Expectations in this Matter. 



358 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

These Buildings were to be erected partly on the original 
Academy lot and partly on the lot purchased from Mr. Hazard 
in 1750, facing upon the Eastern campus, with Mr. Dove's two 
Fourth Street Dwellings to the Northward in the rear. 

The Provost lost no time in preparing for this absence 
which might be of uncertain length, and welcoming any duty 
which would redound to the service of the College, he looked 
to a parting from his wife and their two young sons, William 
Moore and Thomas Duncan, with equanimity and patience. The 
Trustees at the meeting of 1 5 December, adopted Letters and 
Instructions for his iiitroduction and guidance abroad ; on 10 
January, 1762, he preached in Christ Church the Sermon ^ at 
the funeral of Dr. Jenney, its venerable Rector; "God Knows 
but this may be my last opportunity of ever speaking to you 
from this place : my heart is full on the occasion," he says in 
conclusion ; on 25 January he sets out for New York where he 
remained over a fortnight, sailing thence on 13 February to Eng- 
land and arriving early in March. There we leave him, until 
we can carry on the story of the College up to the time of his 
return in June, 1764, freighted with those substantial bounties 
which so materially added to the resources of the College. 

The proposed Buildings, which proved the occasion of this 
foreign mission of the untiring Provost, were at this meeting of 
28 November, 1761, committed to Messrs. Peters, Cox, Sted- 
man. Willing, Chew, and E. Shippen "to agree with proper 
Workmen for carrying them on the ensuing spring." The loca- 
tion of these was at the meeting of 12 April, 1762, decided upon: 
the members resumed the consideration whether it would be better to build 
on the North or South Side of the Academy, and as well on Account of the 
South Exposure as Keeping clear the South Door which is the common 
Entry into their schools it was agreed that they should be placed at the 
North End of the Square. 

On I November, Franklin arrived in Philadelphia on his 
return home after a five years' absence in England on behalf of 
his country, bringing with him his Oxford Doctorate of 22 Feb- 
ruary, 1762, and bearing from Dr. Smith to William Coleman 



^ Entitled the Gospel Summons, and is No. VITI. in the Discourses of 1 762. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 359 

the Treasurer, the cash account of the fund he then had in hand/ 
and attended the meeting of the Trustees on the 9th, when the 
first letters from Dr. Smith were read descriptive of the lengthy 
and formal beginnings of his collections. At the next meeting 
Dr. Franklin attended, 8 February, 1763, and a minute records: 

The Charity Schools being now removed into the new Buildings it 
was represented that some little Conveniences would be Avanted, as Shelves 
and Cupboards, and the Carpenter was accordingly ordered to make them, 

and on 28 May Dr. Peters writes to Dr. Smith : ^ 

the new Buildings are finished, and I think it will be an easy matter to 
find some reputable person who will take upon them at a yearly rent to 
provide all necessaries and to be subject to such Rules of Oeconomy and 
Discipline as will keep those in perfect good Order who shall be allowed 
to live in them. I do not encourage any Schemes (and I believe others 
think as I do), till we shall be favored with your Judgment and assistance. 

These the Trustees had on Dr. Smith's return, and later 
on we shall find a picture of the home-life in the College Build- 
ings. 



* Minutes of Trustees, 9 November, 1762. 
^ Pennsylvania Magazine, x. 352. 



360 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LVIII. 

But we must return to the year 1762:^ The Commence- 
ment of that year was held on 17 May "in the presence of a 
learned, polite and very brilliant Assembly. Every part of the 
public Hall was crowded with Spectators." And what added to 
the pleasure of the loyal mind was, 

his Honour the Governor, who is one of the Trustees of this Institution, was 
pleased to attend the whole day. A great number of the Clergy of differ- 
ent denominations, together with many other Gentlemen of Learning and 
the first Distinction, from the neighboring Parts were hkewise present.^ 

The morning exercises were opened with a Salutatory Ora- 
tion in Latin by one of the Candidates. This was followed by 
a forensic Disputation, in which the 

Disputants discovered a great deal of Sprightliness, Wit and good Sense ; 
and closed with a Latin Syllogistic Disputation. In the afternoon two 
English Orations were pronounced, followed by another Syllogistic Dispu- 
tation in Latin. The Vice Provost then conferred the Degrees, and he 
delivered from the Pulpit a solemn charge to the Candidates. The young 
Orator who spoke the Valedictory with much elegance and Tenderness met 
with deserved applause. Then came the Loyal Dialogue and Ode on the 
accession and Nuptials of his Majesty which closed the whole Performance. 

This latter had been arranged by the Provost before his 
departure for England four months before, he writing the Dia- 
logue, and "one of the Sons of this Institution" writing and 
setting to Music the Ode — no less a one than Francis Hopkin- 
son. The graduates of the occasion were Samuel Campbell, 
who became a Tutor in August, 1759, and clerk to the Trustees 
in 1760, John Cooke, William Hamilton, the "Master Billy 
Hamilton " referred to on former pages, Samuel Jones, a native 
of Wales, John Porter, a Tutor from October, 1761, and 



^ The Pennsylvania Gazette of 7 January, 1762, announces This Day is 
published and to be sold by A. Stewart, price 4p or 3/ per Doz. A Letter from a Gen- 
tleman in England to his Friend in Philadelphia ; giving him his opinion of the 
College of that City. No copy of this is known to any one of this day ; and the 
only knowledge of the publication is this advertisement. It forms title 1824 in Mr. 
Hildeburn's Jssues of the Press in Pennsylvania ; i. 373. 

"^ Minutes, p. 169, Pennsylvania Gazette, 27 May, 1762. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 361 

Stephen Watts, who became Tutor in the College in the follow- 
ing August. John Beard, Nathaniel Chapman, William Edmis- 
ton, and William Paca, were the only members of the class of 
1759 who proceeded to their degree of M. A. 

Henry Marchant, formerly a Student of this Institution having pro- 
nounced an elegant spirited Oration upon the Study of the Law, was 
admitted to a Master's Degree ; also the Rev'd Mr Morgan Edwards, the 
Rev'd Mr Joseph Mather, the Rev'd Mr John Simonton, and Mr Isaac 
Smith of Nassau College, now Student of Physic, to the honorary Degree 
of Master of Arts. And Mr Thomas Pollock [who had become a Tutor in 
November, 1761] to the Honorary Degree of Bachelor of Arts, 

It was a satisfactory minute that recorded : 

Everything was conducted with the utmost Decency and Order. The 
Candidates acquitted themselves in every part of their Exercises to the 
Satisfaction of all present, and have derived considerable Honor to them- 
selves and to the Institution. 

A broadside programme of these interesting exercises in 
Latin is preserved among the Penn Papers in the archives of the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, thanks to the cotemporary 
care of the Penn's Secretary and the Trustees' President, the 
ever watchful and considerate Dr. Peters. 



362 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 



LIX. 

The Commencement of 1763 held on 17 May, had the 
attendance of Dr. FrankHn — the only one of his College and 
Academy which won his presence, for he had sailed on his first 
Mission a month before the first Commencement, and before 
another he had sailed on his second mission. The Minutes of 
this meeting are comparatively meagre, but the faithful chroni- 
cler of all College events, the Pennsylvania Gazette of 26 May 
tells us how the Public Commencement was held at the College 
" in the Presence of a learned, polite and very brilliant Assembly.. 
Every part of the public Hall was crowded with Spectators." 
But a more graphic account, and one worth transcribing here, is 
that of Dr. Peters to Dr. Smith in his letter of 28 May:^ 

■* * * I was forced to stay with the greatest reluctance till the 
very day before the Commencement which was held on the 17th instant 
before a very crowded audience. As it was Synod time, whilst only two of 
our own Clergy, Mr. Barton and Mr. Inglis could be spared from their 
Churches, being oblig'd to prepare their congregations for Whit Sunday 
which you know is a large Communion Day. Two of the graduates were 
preferred to vacant Tutorships, Davis^ in the English School and Lang in 
the Latin School, and Mr. Hunt, of whom I have taken care for your sake,, 
will have a tutorship likewise in the English School which is full, in order 
to give Mr. Kinnersley leisure to teach all the boys of other schools that 
are wishing to learn how to read and speak properly in public. This you 
know has been disused and we have suffered much for want of it.^ * * * 



^ Pennsylvania Magazine, x. 350. 

^ John Davis' name does not appear in the Treasurer's accounts. 

* This matter was the subject of a minute at the Trustees meeting of 13 June 
following Dr. Peters being present, as " some of the parents of the children had com- 
plained that their children were not taught to speak and read in publick." Mr. 
Kinnersley was called in who " declared this was well taught not only in the Eng- 
lish School which was more immediately under his care, but in the Philosophy Classes 
every Monday afternoon and as oiten at other times as his other Business would per- 
mit." But it appeared to the Trustees that " no more could be done at present with- 
out partiality and great inconvenience * * * and they did not incline to make 
any alteration or to lay any Burthen upon Mr. Kinnersly." A partial explanation of 
this may be in some of the parents resting under the belief that their children were not 
so favored as others in public speaking; but with Dr. Peters admission to Dr. Smith, 
the Trustees formal action must have been taken to shield Mr. Kinnersley. This 
action is so indefinite, and so contrary to that taken at the meeting of the Trustees on 
8 February, 1763, on the motion of Dr. Franklin, that it can only leave an impress 
tliat some design existed to nurture rather the Classical and Mathematical branches of 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 363 

The printed Theses will shew you who took their Degrees of right. In my 
absence the Faculty recommended for honorary Degrees the Rev' d Jo. 
Rogers and the Rev'd W. Miller and Mr. M'Kean the Lawyer at New 
Castle. 

From this last reference we are not far out of the way in 
claiming for Dr. Peters the authorship of the warning note 
uttered by the Trustees in the previous year against "conferring 
too many Honorary Degrees." 

But this Commencement was without Hopkinson's rhythm 
and sweet notes. Dr. Peters writes the story to Dr. Smith : 

I am sorry to tell you that a foolish but tart difference has arisen 
between the Faculty and our good Friend Francis Hopkinson on account 
of a grammatical squabble, wherein Mr. Hopkinson was the Aggressor, 
but he did not mean to offend any of the Faculty, only to expose Stuart 
the Printer; I should not mention this, but only to inform you that the 
Faculty applied to Sam. Evans to write the Dialogue and to Mr. Jackson 
to write the Ode for them,* Mr. Duche and Mr. Hopkinson declining to have 
anything to do with it by means of this Squabble about the Grammar. My 
endeavours to reconcile prov'd unsuccessful.^ It is unfortunate that we 
have not at this time any publick performance more worthy of being laid 
before the publick. You must make the best Apology you can. 



the college at the expense of the English, a design rather the result of indifference 
than of intent and perhaps of a want of appreciation of its importance, although Mr. 
Kinnersley would naturally foster it would be thought a branch in all its details over 
which he was supreme. That the matter was a grave issue can be seen in the force 
of the Minute of 8 February, where it is stated that " Mr. Kinnersley's time was 
entirely taken up in teaching little Boys the Elements of the English language, 
and that speaking and rehearsing in Publick were totally disused to the great prejudice 
of the other Scholars and Students and contrary to the original Design of the Trustees' ' 
and " it was particularly recommended to be fully considered by the Trustees at their 
next Meeting.." This, though, was not done until the meeting of 12 April, at which 
however Dr Franklin did not attend, when he, Mr. Coleman, Mr. Coxe and Mr. 
Duche were appointed a committee to confer with Mr. Kinnersley how this might be 
done as well as what assistance would be necessary to give Mr. Kinnersley to enable 
him to attend this necessary service, which was indeed the proper business of his 
Professorship." But no report was made, and the next reference to the matter is at 
the meeting of 13 June, just referred to, by which it would seem it was more conven- 
ient to accept Mr. Kinnersley's denials than to pursue the matter further. 

* These were sent to Dr. Smith who had them printed in the Liverpool Acf- 
vertiser ol 21 July, copies of which he distributed with advantage to his Mission. 
When he received his Dublin degree he sent Dr. Martin " a letter of thanks * * * 
also one of the Liverpool papers containing the Dialogue and Ode which made part 
of the Exercises at the College," Life and Corresp. i. 326, 331. 

^ This foolish but tart difference arose out of the publication by "Andrew 
Steuart for the College and Academy of Philadelphia, MDCCLXII" of a Short 
Introduction to Gratntnar for the Use of the College and Acade7jiy in Philadelphia^ 
being a New Edition of WhiftenhaWs Latin Grammar -with 7)iany Alterations^ 



364 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The graduates at the Commencement of 1763 were, 
James Anderson, John Davis, Isaac Hunt who became the 
father of Leigh Hunt, and who failed in attaining his Master's 
Degree in 1766 on account of his share in some of the news- 
paper pohtical controversies of that day, as elsewhere stated ; 
Robert Johnston, appointed Tutor in September, 1763 ; James 
Lang, William Paxton, Stephen Porter, Jonathan Dickinson 
Sergeant, an alumnus of Princeton of 1762, and John Stuart. 
We now have to wait until 1765 for the next Commencement. 
Of the three who shortly received Tutorships, Hunt served 
but three months, Johnston to May, 1764, and Lang to Janu- 
ary, 1764. 



Additions and Amendments from ancient and late Gramittarians. Hopkinson's 
humor was too lively for him to let pass the opportunity of making some jest of this 
ambitious little book. And next year there appeared E7-rata or the Art of Printing 
incorrectly; Plainly set Forth by a Variety of Examples Taken from a Latin 
Grammar lately printed by Andretu Steuart for the Use of the College and Academy 
4>fikis City. 

Still her old Empire to 7-estore she tries 

For, born a Goddess, DULNESS never Dies. — Pope. 

Philadelphia, MDCCLXIII. 
As the writer finds "151 Capital Blunders in I37 Pages," he says " Our worthy 
Printer, A. Steuart, fired with a laudable Zeal for the Honour of Ametica, and 
learning to tread the servile Paths of Imitation, has ventured to strike out a Method 
of Printing entirely new; the many Advantages of which it is our present Purpose to 
set forth in the best Manner we are able. It is to be observed that Mr. Steuart has 
been employed to print a Grammar for the use of our Academy ; which after a long 
space of Time, he has done in so Artful a Manner, that, without the Help of this our 
Errata, or List of Mistakes, or some other like it, it is indeed no Grammar at all. 
For as Grammar is justly defined, That Art which teacheth to ivrite and speak 
correctly, that Book which of itself teacheth no such Things cannot properly be said 
to be a Grammar. So that this our Work may well be called a Key to the said 
Book; without which it must remain unintelligible * * * This Grammar is 
not the first, and very probably will not be the last Effort of his Genius ; but we 
think ourselves happy in being the first to notice it to the Public, and in preventing 
others from mentioning this Performance of his to his Dishonour by giving it the 
laudable Term we have done in our Preface." Hopkinson's humor was taken 
seriously, for it assured the death of Steuart' s print of the work of the Faculty, who 
■doubtless relied upon him for correct proofreading. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 365 



LX. 

The year 1763 is noted for the offer of the Sargent prizes. 
At the meeting of 8 February, Frankhn referred to the Trustees 
a letter he had received from Mr. John Sargent, a Merchant of 
London on the subject, about which there had been some con- 
ference when Frankhn was in London, and shortly after he left 
there, Mr. Sargent wrote him on 12 August, 1762, as follows :^ 

Dr. Sir. By our Friends here I am enabled to convey the enclosed 
Trifles to you, which are the best I could meet with at present and cost 
five guineas each. 

You remember the Intention, viz : for the two best Performances at 
the general Meeting or Publick Act of your College or Seminary. 

The subject of one to be, in a short English Discourse, or Essay, 
' ' on the reciprocal advantages arising from a perpetual Union between 
Great Britain and her American colonies." 

The other prize, for some Classical Exercise, that you shall think 
best suited to your Plan of Education and the ability of your young people. 

I submit to your Judgment whether the former shall be confined to 
your Students or left open to every one, whether of the Seminary or not. 
Yourself and Mr Norris your Speaker and any third [here the copy ends]. 

As Franklin felt unauthorized to accept Mr. Sargent's 
nomination of the subjects, he 

informed the Trustees that neither he nor Mr Norris inclined to do any- 
thing in the Matter, being clear of opinion that Mr. Sargent would not 
have mentioned them on this Occasion if he had been acquainted with the 
Trustees or the Constitution of the Academy. And therefore he desired 
the Trustees would take the whole under their care. 



^ A letter of same date from Mr. Sargent's firm, Sargent, Aufrere & Co., to- 
" Dr. Franklin at Portsmouth to be left at the Post House till called for" is with 
the American Philosophical Society, reading: "We have just sent you by the chan- 
nel of the Post Office the two Gold medals which you will apply as a mark of our 
good Wishes for your College, & now enclose a Letter of Credit which we hope 
you will never have occasion for, but if you should, we are perswaded the Name of 
B. M. da Costa whatever Port you are carried into will be respected and procure 
you all you wish, etc." William Temple Franklin in his Life and Works, l8i8, 
Oct., i; p. 180, says his Grandfather " on his return to Philadelphia from England in 
1775 carried thence two large gold medals given by Mr. Sargent, one of his friends, 
to be bestowed as prizes, &c., &c. ;" but the author confounded this with the for- 
mer voyage home. Dr. Franklin sailed from Portsmouth in the latter part of Au- 
gust, 1762, and brought then with him these medals. He did not reach Philadel- 
phia, however, until 1st November following. 



366 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

After considering the Letter which Mr. Peters and Mr. Frankhn 
were desired to think of a proper Classical Subject and to inquire of Dr. 
Alison and Mr. Ewing if both or either of these subjects might be pro- 
posed to the present Candidates for Degrees, and if proper Orations could 
be prepared by them against the next Commencement. The Medals 
were very kindly accepted and the same gentlemen were desired to return 
the Thanks of the Trustees to Mr Sargent for his Gift. 

At the meeting of 8 March they 

acquainted the Trustees that they had conferred with Dr Alison and Mr 
Ewing and finding it to be their Opinion that the Subject proposed by Mr 
Sargent was too high for the Present Candidates for Degrees, but that they 
might perhaps find time to undertake the classical Subject; they had there- 
fore proposed to them, if the Trustees approved of it, to prepare Orations 
on the Subject of a Roman Education, for as in this the Foundation was 
laid of all those great characters which were so much admired in the 
Roman History, the Students would have an ample opportunity in this 
subject to show their Abilities and Improvements in Literature. 

But as to the other Medal, it was said with perhaps some 
significance, " As to the other Subject they would recommend 
it to the Trustees to let it lye a little longer for consideration." 
Dr. Peters wrote an acknowledgment of thanks on 6 April, and 
his letter is entered on the minutes, giving Mr. Sargent 

their hearty Thanks for the Regard you have been pleased to shew to the 
Institution in the Disposal of the two gold Medals committed to the care of 
our worthy Member Dr Franklin, He has been so kind as to present these 
two curious Medals to the Trustees as your Gift, and to communicate to them 
your Letter, whereby we observe you have yourself made Choice of one of the 
Subjects for the Students to try their Abilities upon, and we are obliged to 
you for your Attention to the Welfare of these Colonies in desiring that it 
may be on the reciprocal Advantages arising from a perpetual Union 
between Great Britain and them ; -x- * * indeed this came too late to 
be proposed to our Students as they had all the Subjects of their Exercises 
given them against the approaching Commencement, and were ingenuous 
enough to acknowledge they did not think themselves furnished with a 
competent Stock of that sort of Knowledge and Reading which is required 
to write well on that Subject; 

and then he acquainted him with the present decision of the 
Trustees, 

But the medals were not brought into service for the space 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 367 

of three years. On 18 February, 1766, it was proposed by the 
Trustees 

to bestow Mr Sargent' s Prize-Medals at the next Commencement, for the 
two best Performances on the Subjects proposed by him, [and it was] agreed 
that the Medal for the best classical Performance be confined to the present 
Set of Candidates for Bachelor's Degrees at the ensuing Commencement, 
and that the Subject proposed for the other Medal, being of a higher 
Nature, be left open to all those who have received any Degree or Part of 
their Education in this Seminary and the Provost was desired to draw up a 
proper advertisement for this Purpose, and to publish the same, after com- 
municating it to the Governor, Mr Allen, Mr Shippen and Mr Duche for 
their Opinion and Approbation. 

In the Pe7insylvania Gazette of 6 March, this public announce- 
ment appeared, and in the reference to the Medal to be awarded 
the political Essay, Dr. Smith wrote : 

As the subject proposed for this Medal, is one of the most important 
-which can at this Time employ the Pen of the Patriot or Scholar ; and as 
it is thus left open for all those who have had any Connection with this 
College, either as Students or Graduates, it is hoped for the Honour of the 
Seminary, as well as for their own, they will nobly exert themselves on a 
Subject so truly animating, which may be treated in a Manner able inter- 
esting and pleasing to good Men both here and in the Mother country. 

The public tension in the Spring of this year was great on the 
subject of the Stamp Act, for a crisis was approaching in colo- 
nial attachments to the Mother Country, and it was understood 
that the British government was about considering whether it 
would maintain or abandon its position on this parliamentary 
import. 

On 8 May the Trustees, Messrs. Perm, Chew, Allen, Cad- 
walader, Coxe, Willing, Strettell, and Duche with Dr. Smith, 
Dr. Alison, and Dr. Shippen, junior. Professor of anatomy, in 
attendance, gave the Fojenoon to receiving and examining the 
Pieces that might be produced for Mr. Sargent's Medals. Dr. 
Smith laid before them 

nine Performances, sealed up under Covers as directed, and marked to be 
written for the Medal proposed for the best Eaglish Essay on the Recipro- 
cal Advantages of a perpetual Onion between Great Britain and her Ameri- 



368 PIlSTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

can Colonies ; also nine sealed Performances for the Medal proposed for 
the best Classical Performance. 

After reading three of the Enghsh performances adjourn- 
ment was had until the Afternoon, when Messrs. Redman, 
Lawrence and IngHs and Dr. Morgan gave their attendance, 
and the other six pieces were read. The Trustees httle thought 
that the Author of the Prize Essay was one of their afternoon's 
company. Rereading three of the pieces, 

the Medal was unanimously decreed to the Piece having the Motto "Force 
may subdue, but Commerce &c, " which on opening the cover answering to 
the Motto was found to belong to John Morgan, M. D. F. R. S. and Pro- 
fessor of the Theory and Practice of Physic in this College. The second 
also was judged a Masterly, judicious and Sensible Performance, well 
worthy of a Medal also, if there had been another for the same subject ; 
and the third was likewise greatly approved of as a spirited Performance, 
so far as it went ; and it was agreed that the Publication of both, together 
with the Prize Piece, would be of service at this Crisis ; which Determina- 
tion was accordingly inserted in the public Papers; in Pursuance of which, 
Stephen Watts, M. A., the modest and candid author of the second Piece, 
directly disclosed his Name with his Consent to, publish it with the Piece. 
The author of the third Piece gave the same Leave, but for particular con- 
siderations desired his Name not to be affixed. 

This was Joseph Reed, an early student of the College,^ 
the young lawyer of Trenton, a graduate in 1757 of the Col- 
lege of New Jersey, who was now to receive the honorary 
Master's Degree from the Philadelphia College, and thus be 
brought within reach of the Sargent Medal ; and whose political 
prominence in the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was 
to connect his name closely with the ill fortunes of the College 
in 1779. Dr. Smith says of this, in his Preface to the Disserta- 
tions, 

the author of the third Dissertation, wrote concerning his piece, that 
he had but two days to spare, from a particular hurry of business in his 
possession, to prepare it in; and that so far from thinking it disgraced by 
being the third best, he would have rejoiced, for the honor of the Semi- 
nary in which he received his first education, if all the others had been 
superior also; and that if there were any observations in it which had not 



^ He was entered by his father Andrew Reed in 1751 and appears in the list 
of students the two years succeeding. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 369 

occurred to the other gentlemen, or were likely to serve as hints for able 
pens to set so important a subject in a proper light, he readily consented to 
its publication; but requested, for particular reasons that his name might 
not be annexed to it. 

A fourth Dissertation was also published, written by the 
favorite son of the College, Francis Hopkinson f or to employ 
the too partial words of his Provost : 

The fourth little piece is the production of an ingenious son of the 
College in his own unpremeditated way. He has by many compositions 
done honor to the place of his education; and by this, which was only the 
sudden work of a few hours of that day, in which the other pieces were 
under examination, he meant not to come in competition for the prize, but 
only to throw his mite into the general stock. 

An evening session afforded the Trustees an opportunity 
"to proceed to the examination of the Latin Pieces, but were 
obliged to adjourn them till next Day." An all day session of 
these worthy men, earnest in interest for their College and dili- 
gent in attendance on their duties, testifies to the spirit of its 
management at this time. At the next day's session Dr. Peters 
attended ; was his absence on the first day due to a desire 
to avoid decision on a composition in which a consideration of 
the Propietaries' interests might be discussed ? 

This last day's session was fruitless as it was found 

that the candidates for the other Medal had imprudently and for want of 
experience, discovered their Mottoes and consequently their Names to each 
other, so that the Authors of the several Pieces were generally known both 
within and without Doors * * * it was determined that the Medal 
could not consistent with Mr. Sargent' s Trust be disposed to any of them 
* * * it was therefore proposed to give them a new subject * * * 
but there was not time to write anew * * * and the Candidates 
requested that it might be left for another year, and then be open for all 
Bachelors of Art, and this was acquiesced in. 



* four Dissertations on the Reciprocal Advantages of a Perpetual Union 
Between Great Britain and her American Colonies written for Mr. Sargent^ s Prize 
Medal. To which {by Desire) is prefixed An Eulogium Spoken on the Delivery of 
the Medal at the Public Commeticement in the College of Philadelphia, May 2.0th, 
1766, Printed by William &f Thomas Bradford, at the London Coffee House, 
MDCCLXIf, p. 112. This is title No. 2213 in Mr. Hildeburn's Issues of the Press, 
ii. 51. Though there were more than three hundred and fifty copies of this publica- 
tion subscribed for by the leading citizens and other friends of the College, yet the 
book is now very rare. See also Life and Correspondence of President Reed, i. 40. 



370 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The presentation of the Sargent Medal to Dr. Morgan at 
the ensuing commencement was a great feature of the occasion. 
" His Honour the Governor as President of the Trustees," gave 
*' into the Hands of the Provost the Prize Medal, ordering him 
to deliver the same as it had been previously decreed;" the 
Provost in a few words introduced Dr. Morgan who " then 
delivered his Essay, which was received with the highest appro- 
bation by the Audience ;" after this the Provost added. 

Sir. As the reward of your great merit in this elegant Performance, 
I am in the name of the Trustees and Faculty of this College, as well as 
in behalf of the worthy donor, to beg your acceptance of this Gold Medal. 
Its intrinsic value may not be an object of much consideration to you, but 
the truly honorable circumstances by which it now becomes yours, must 
render it one of the most valuable jewels in your Possession. That the 
first literary Prize in this Institution should fall to the Share of one of its 
eldest sons, who to much Genius and Application, has joined much knowl- 
edge of the World, will not seem strange. Yet still for the honor of this 
Seminary, and what will not derogate from your Honor, it will appear that 
you have obtained this pre-eminence over no mean Competitors. Some of 
our younger Sons (among whom we ought not to omit the Name of the 
modest and candid Watts, with some others even of inferior standing) have 
exhibited such vigorous Efforts of Genius and tread so ardently on the 
Heels of you their Senior, that it will require the utmost Exertion of all 
your Faculties, the continual straining of every Nerve, if you would long 
wish to lead the way to them, in the great Career of Time. 

This address of the Provost to Dr. Morgan, or Eulogium 
as entered in the Minutes, is in part there recorded. It was a 
happy circumstance that the news of the repeal of the Stamp 
Act had reached Philadelphia the day before the Commence- 
ment, and the publication of Dr. Morgan's Essay was most 
opportune. And we can picture to ourselves the warmth and 
earnestness of the following words of the zealous Provost in his 
address on delivering this Medal : 

Truly delicate and difficult, we confess, was the Subject prescribed to 
you to treat of the reciprocal advantages of a perpetual Union between 
Great Britain atid her Colonies at a Time when a fatal misunderstanding 
had untwisted all the Cords of that Union, and the minds of many were 
too much inflamed. This Difficulty was likewise increased to us by other 
considerations. Great Britain, who by her Liberality, had raised this 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 371 

College from a helpless to a flourishing State had an undoubted Demand 
on us for all the returns of Gratitude. Yet we could not, we durst not, 
divert the streams of Learning from their Sacred Course. Our country, 
nay all America, had a Right to expect that they should be directed pure 
along to water the goodly Tree of Liberty, nor ever be suffered to cherish 
any rank Weed that choaks its Growth. In this most difficult Conjuncture, 
we rejoice to behold you in your early years, exercising all the Temper and 
Prudence of the most experienced Patriots. We rejoice that ever we had 
the least Share in forming Sentiments which have led you so powerfully to 
shew, that in the everlasting Basis of reciprocal Interest and a participa- 
tion of constitutional privileges, our Union shall be perpetuated, and our 
bleeding Wounds healed up without so much as a Scar by Way of Remem- 
brance. Here you have Shewn yourselves entitled to the Name of true 
Sons of Liberty. Sons of Liberty indeed ! neither betraying her 
sacred Cause on the one Hand, nor degenerating into Licentioustiess on 
the other. 

Young William White, a few days after, writes to his nephew: 

as the Glorious News of the Repeal of the Stamp Act reach' d Philadelphia 
the Day before Commencement, Dr. Smith, the Provost congratulated the 
Audience on the joyful occasion. His Piece will soon be publish' d 
together with a few of the Performances for the Medal.* 

A delay had occurred, it has been seen, in awarding the 
Sargent Medal for this political essay ; but how opportune and 
singular it was that its final award came contemporaneously with 
the tidings of the repeal of the Stamp Act, which allayed a 
crisis in the life of the colonies, and seemed to give renewed 
assurances of the perpetuation of their Union with the Mother 
Country ; and the donor of this significant prize was a Member 
of that Parliament against whose encroachments the people of 
the colonies through all their channels of utterance, their halls 
of learning as well as in other ways, were now in earnest protesting ; 
and this happy coincidence placed the young College in the 
forefront of and in sympathy with the great thought of the day. 

Of Mr. Sargent we know but little beyond the record of his 
public services.^ He renewed his correspondence with Dr. Frank- 



* MS. Letter, Bp. White to his nephew Benedict Edward Hall of Baltimore 
County, 31 May, 1766. 

^ Mr. John Sargent was appointed Store Keeper of the King's Yard at Deplford 
in 1746, afterwards was Merchant in London and a Director of the Bank of Eng- 



372 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

lin after the peace, and the latter writes him from Passy, 2'j Janu- 
ary, 1783.^ 

I received and read the letter you were so kind as to write me on 3rd 
instant, with a great deal of pleasure, as it informed me of the welfare of 
a family, whom I have so long esteemed and loved, and to whom I am 
under so many obligations, which I shall ever remember. Our correspon- 
dence |has been interrupted by that abominable war. I neither expected 
letters from you, nor would I hazard putting you in danger by writing any to 
you. * * * Mrs. Sargent and the good lady, her Mother, are very kind 
in wishing me more happy years. I ought to be satisfied with those Provi- 
dence has already been pleased to afford me, being now in my seventy- 
eighth ; a long life to pass without any uncommon misfortune, the greater 
part of it in health and vigor of mind and body, near fifty years of it 
in continued possession of the confidence of my country, in public employ- 
ments, and enjoying the esteem and affectionate, friendly regard of many 
wise and good men and women, in every country where I have resided. 
For these mercies and blessings, I desire to be thankful to God, whose 
protection I have hitherto had, and 1 hope for its continuance to the end, 
which cannot be far distant. 

This letter contains one of those quaint phrases which so 
often find their way into Franklin's correspondence : 

The account you give me of your family is pleasing, except that your 
eldest son continues so long unmarried. I hope he does not intend to live 
and die in celibacy. The wheel of life, that has rolled down to him from 
Adam without interruption, should not stop with him. I would not have 
one dead, unbearing branch in the genealogical tree of the Sargents.' 



land, and from 1754 to 1761, Memberof Parliament for Midhurst, and 1765-8, M. P. 
for West Looe, Cornwall. He first possessed the mansion of May Place in Kent and 
afterwards purchased Halstead Place. He died at Tunbridge Wells, 20 Septem- 
ber, 1 79 1. His son John was the author of the Mine and other Poems; in 1790 he 
was M. P. for Seaford, in 1793 for Queensborough, and after parliamentary service he 
accepted the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds in 1806, and died in 1831. His 
eldest son, also John, born in 1781, was fellow of King's College, Cambridge, 
obtained orders and was presented by his father to the livings of Graff ham in 1805 
and WooUavington, 1813, where he died 3 May, 1833. One of the latter's daughters 
married Samuel Wilberforce, afterwards Bishop of Oxford, and another Henry Man- 
ning, who succeeded him in the living of WooUavington and afterwards became Car- 
dinal Manning. Gentleman' s Magazine, 1S33. Supplement, i. 636, also Hansard 
and Allibone for the last two Sargents. 

* Bigelow, viii. 256. 

^ and he continues : " The married state is, after all our jokes, the happiest, 
being conformable to our natures. Man and woman have each of them qualities and 
tempers, in which the other is deficient, and which in union contribute to the common 
felicity. Single and separate, they are not the complete human being ; they are like 
the odd halves of scissors: they cannot answer the end of their formation." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 373 
LXI. 

Having thus anticipated some of the narrative of later 
years, which has been done in order to present unbroken the 
story of the Sargent Medal, we now return to the year 1763 to 
note one of the public corporate appearances of the College ; 
we find in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 17 November, the narra- 
tive of the " Humble Address of the Vice Provost and Profes- 
sors of the College and Academy of Philadelphia to the Honor- 
able John Penn, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor," in which they 
are " happy in this Opportunity of presenting him with their 
Compliments of Felicitation on his safe arrival in this Province." 
To which his reply was couched in appropriate phrase : 

Being very sensible that nothing can better advance the Interest and 
Welfare of this young Colony, than the Encouragement of Literature and 
useful Knowledge; you may be assured that the well established Seminary 
under your care shall at all times receive my Countenance and Protection. 

John Penn, now thirty-four years of age, had arrived in 
Philadelphia on 30 October, 1763, on his second visit to the 
Province, and succeeded as Lieutenant Governor William 
Denny, whose unpopular administration was now almost for- 
gotten in the coming of the grandson of the founder of the 
Province. The welcome accorded by the faculty of the College 
to Denny on his arrival in August, 1756, in common with other 
public bodies and the civic authorities, had suggested the most 
exalted promises for a happy administration ; the local disap- 
pointment had been so extreme that it tended to make the 
welcome to John Penn seven years later not less loyal but much 
less extravagant. Governor Penn's interest in the institution 
was manifested by his acceptance of a Trusteeship ; on the 
occurrence of the first vacancy after his arrival by the removal 
of Mr. Andrew Elliot from the Province, he was elected at the 
meeting of 11 September, 1764, to succeed him, and at the 
meeting of 9 October, the Secretary, Dr. Smith, enters the 
Minute : 

The Hon'ble John Penn, Esq"" took the oath, and subscribed the 
Declaration as required by the Charter, and also subscribed the Funda- 



374 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

mental Article for perpetuating the Constitution of this Seminary, alter which 
he took his seat at the Board of Trustees. 

He soon was elevated to the Presidency, at the meeting of 
1 6 November following : 

The President [James Hamilton] having signified to the Board that his 
affairs required his embarking soon for England, he desired that the Trus- 
tees would proceed to the choice of a new President and the Hon' ble John 
Penn, Esq"", Governor of this Province was unanimously chosen; and 
Mess. Inglis and Lardner were appointed to acquaint the Governor with 
this Choice and to request him to do them the Honor to accept of the 
same; 

which he did, and took his seat accordingly at the meeting of 1 1 
December, succeeding to the brief incumbency of James Hamilton, 
who had been elected when Dr. Peters went to England in June, 
1764, on a visit. His uncle, Lynford Lardner, had been elected 
a Trustee on 8 June, 1762, but did not qualify and take his seat 
until 10 January, 1764. Mr. Lardner was elected to the place 
made vacant by the death of Mr. Leech in the previous March ; 
and at the same meeting with him was elected Mr. Amos Stret- 
tell who succeeded his father who had died the previous year. 
In addition to these two vacancies by death among the Trustees, 
there had been those caused by the death of Mr. Maddox and 
Mr. Masters ; to the former Thomas Willing was elected on 8 
July, 1760; and Rev. Jacob Duche, the first alumnus to be- 
come a Trustee, was elected on 10 February, 1761. Mr. Wil- 
ling, who thus became a Trustee at twenty-eight years of age, 
was the eldest son of Charles Willing, one of the original twenty- 
four Trustees, and became an eminent merchant, and served his 
city in many public capacities. But Duche was his junior, being 
but twenty-three years of age at the time of his election — a great 
testimony to his learning and intelligence and to his warm 
interest in his Alma Mater. These are evidences that our an- 
cestors of a century ago did not always elect men of mature 
years to posts of dignity and responsibility, but equally with us 
availed themselves when occasion served of the services of young 
men, which we of this generation claim to be a peculiar departure 
of our own. Mr. Willing did not qualify until 10 February, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 375 

1 76 1, "having been prevented by absence and indisposition 
from giving his Attendance till now." When Dr. Smith took 
his departure for England in 1762, eleven of the original Trus- 
tees had died, and also one of those later elected, John Mifflin. 



LXII. 

The finances of the institution did not keep pace with its 
growing influence. Circumstances forbad, it may be presumed, 
higher charges or fees for tuition than those already prescribed. 
There were now "near two hundred Students and Scholars, be- 
sides eighty Boys and forty Girls educated on Charity," as stated 
in the Address of the Trustees submitted at the meeting of 1 5 
December, 1761, for Dr. Smith to submit "to all Charitable Per- 
sons, Patrons of Literature and Friends of Useful Knowledge." 
And the Faculty consisted of " a Provost, a Vice Provost, and 
three professors, assisted by six Tutors or Ushers, besides two 
Masters and a Mistress for the Charity Schools." These were 
Dr. Smith, Dr. Alison, Professors Kinnersley, Williamson and 
Beveridge, William Ayres, Thomas Pratt, Samuel Campbell, 
Richard Harrison, Patrick Alison, and Thomas Polock, Tutors; 
John Davis and John Porter, Masters, and Mrs. Middleton, Mistress 
of the Charity School. The sum of the salaries of these amounted 
annually to ^^"1321, to which were now to be added Dr. Ewing's 
compensation for supplying the Provost's place in his absence, 
amounting to ;^I75. The collections from the tuition fees in 
1761 amounted to ^763.15.11. In 1760 they amounted to 
;^629.7.6; in 1759 to ^14-4.7 ; in 1758 to ^746.10.1 ; in 1757 
to ^^"543. 10; the greatest return was in 1753, when the sum 
amounted to ;^ii02. 12.6. The total from the beginning to the 
end of 1761, amounted to ^^"6393. 19.3^. The subscriptions 
from friends and the kindly disposed, for the same period, 



3/6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

amounted to £$^^^2.1.4. ; of which sum ;^3376. 12.4 had been real- 
ised before the close of the year 1753. To these may be added 
the contribution in 1753 of the City Council of i^200, and their 
five years annuity of ;^ioo ; the Proprietaries' gift of ^^"500 on 
granting the charter ; the proceeds, namely £ 1 84. 5 . 11 ^2 , of Rev. 
George Whitefield's Charity Sermon of September, 1754; and 
Henry Wright's principal of his annuity amounting to ^300, 
granted in 1759.^ But the Trustees soon realised that the ordi- 
nary channels of income could not meet their engagements, even 
with an occasional special effort. And Lotteries were resorted to 
as early as 1757, and this source of revenue through seven Lot- 
teries in all for as many years was well cultivated. To the end 
of the year 1761, the sum of ^6781. 17.2 had thus been gathered. 
It was an age of Lotteries, when all needy institutions, churches 
included, sought this fictitious and abused system as a means of 
drawing money from their fellow citizens for needed wants under 
the deceit of offering them chances of gain. Their first scheme 
was advertised in the Gazette of 17 March, 1757, and introduced 
by a statement : 

the necessary expenses of this Institution, the constant support of two 
Charity Schools in it ; the late enlargement of the design by opening 
schools for Philosophy and the Sciences ; the purchasing a compleat appa- 
ratus for experiments therein, and fitting up the publick Hall for accom- 
modating the Inhabitants at Commencements and other publick occasions, 
[and they] were entirely sensible that no Institution of such extensive 



^ " Dr. Smith acquainted the Trustees that one Mr. Henry Wright, of this 
city, Whipmaker, to whom he was a stranger, had sent for him and acquainted him that 
finding himself out of order and having of a long time intended to give his little Estate 
to the Academy he desired some of the Trustees might be told of it and come to 
assist him to draw such Writings as should be thought necessary for that purpose, 
that thereupon Mr. Chew and Mr. Alexander Stedman waited on him and an Instru- 
ment was drawn at his special direction wherein he acknowledged to have given to the 
Trustees Three Hundred Pounds Currency for the use of the Academy and is to 
receive from them if demanded an Annuity of Thirty Pounds per Annum but for no 
longer time than until the several Yearly Payments shall amount to the said sum of 
Three Hundred Pounds." Minutes 14 December, 1759. At the meeting of 8 Janu- 
ary, 1760, report was made of the proper exchange of papers at which Mr. Wright 
" was extremely pleased and told them as he found himself on the Recovery he would 
continue to keep shop and hoped to augment the sum already given for this useful 
Institution." 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 377 

Usefulness was ever supported in any Country without some certain Rev- 
enue or Endowment, independent of what is paid by the Scholars. ^ 

But these schemes were not pursued without animadver- 
sion by many good citizens. Bradford's paper the Pennsylvania 
Journal, had admitted to its columns towards the close of the 
year 1758 some communications reflecting on the College for 
seeking this unwarranted and unseemly mode of raising funds, 
which however were accepted by its friends as displaying more 
unfriendliness to the institution than condemnation of Lotteries 
in themselves. These disturbed Dr. Alison and his associates 
of the Faculty, and he sought counsel and comfort from the 
Trustees. Had the valiant Provost at that time not been 
engrossed with his preparations to take a quiet departure for 
England to prosecute his appeal for redress against the Assem- 
bly, he would have taken up his pen and vigorously met these 
charges. Dr. Alison was inclined to this himself, but the com- 
fort and counsel he obtained from the Trustees only enjoined 
silence and patience. At their meeting of 9 January, 1759, 

Mr Alison, the Vice Provost, with the other Professors, as a Faculty, 
acquainted the Trustees, that some Papers were published in the Pennsyl- 
-vania Journal, in which many false and scandalous Aspersions were 
thrown on the characters of the Trustees and Professors ; and sundry false 
arguments brought against the Morality and Lawfulness of Lotteries, and 
desired Leave to make Answer to the said Papers, in order to undeceive 
the People, and vindicate their Characters. The- Request was taken into 
consideration, and it was the unanimous Opinion of all present, that the 
Professors should be desired to forbear publishing any Answers, because it 
appeared to the Trustees and to many sensible and sober Citizens, with 
whom they had fallen into Conversation on this Subject, that the Persons, 
who were the Authors of these Papers were some low creatures, who wrote 
from Passion and Resentment, that neither their Calumnies nor their 



^ The receipts from the Lotteries were as follows : 

No. I. 881. 4. 3 1757. 3091. o.ii 

2. 2983. 9. 3 1759. 1376.19.1i 

3. 914. I. II 1760. 574. I. 2 

4. 990.17. 8 1761. 739.15. 2 

5. 956. 7. 2% 1762. 877. 8. 7 

6. 1079. 5. 9 1763. 2183.16. 4 

7. 1652. 1. 7 1764. 614. 5. e}i 

9457- 7- I'A . 9457- 7- 7'A 



378 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Arguments would hurt the Institution or the Characters of any concerned 
in the Trust or Schools. 

The Lotteries were too popular to be scolded down, and 
were too fruitful in financial results for needy institutions to 
forego their service. In the space of a few years at this period 
of the city's history Lotteries were opened to erect Christ Church 
Steeple,^ to aid in building St. Peter's Church ; to finish St. 
Paul's Church ; for the Steeple of the Second Presbyterian 
Church ; to enlarge Trinity Church, Oxford, Philadelphia County ; 
for the use of St. James' Church, and for the Presbyterian Church, 
at Lancaster, Penna. ; to rebuild St. John's Church, in Chester 
County ; for the Presbyterian Church at Middletown, and for the 
new Presbyterian Church on the Brandywine ; for the new Presby- 
terian Church in Baltimore ; to build a Light House at Cape Hen- 
lopen and improve the navigation of the Delaware; for a bridge over 
Conestoga Creek ; to pave Second Street from Race to Callowhill 
Street ; for a company of rangers in Tulpehocken, Berks County ; 
and one also to raise ^6000 for the New Jersey College at Prince- 
ton, and one for £i\2^.i.iyi for the new Germantown Academy, 
the corner stone of which was laid 21 April, 1760, and which 
before the end of the year had gathered in sixty-one English 
and seventy German pupils, and where David James Dove was 
now employed as English teacher, and as English usher or 
tutor Thomas Pratt, whom by the beginning of the year 1762 
we find again in the employ of the College and Academy. But 
a line was drawn on the object of a Lottery if it was not accept- 
able, for where one was proposed for the erection of public 
baths and pleasure grounds, the clergy and others of the com- 
munity protested strenuously against them, as tending to 
further the growing inclination among the people for " pleasure, 
luxury, gaming, and dissipation," and among the protestants 
were Dr. Jenney, Dr. Smith, Dr. Alison, Mr. Ewing and Mr, 
Duche. 



* At their meeting of 30 October, 1752, the Vestry of Christ Church appointed 
twelve of their number, adding thereto Benjamin Franklin, to be the Managers of the 
Lottery; it is this conjunction which originated the statement that Franklin was a 
Vestryman of Christ Church, but he was never elected thereto, though a pew holder 
in the Church. Of the Vestry on this Committee, Mess. Taylor and Leech were 
Trustees of the College and Academy. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 379 

The evil influences of Lotteries were however recognised, 
and the Provincial Assembly finally passed a bill for their sup- 
pression, declaring all such schemes, public or private, to be 
common nuisances and against the good of the province. This 
action was due to the attitude and remonstrance of the Society 
of Friends, whose influence in the Legislature was great ; but 
the authorities at home did not approve, doubtless because their 
enactment was due to this source, and Dr. Peters at the meeting 
of the Trustees on 13th January, 1761, hastened to inform them 

that the Governor had received from the Council office the Repeals of 
several Laws passed in this Province in the Time of the late Governor 
Denny and among them the Repeal of the Law for suppressing Lotteries 
and Plays, which were to be notified to the Publick in the next Gazette, 
and proposed it to the Consideration of the Trustees whether it might not 
be proper to have a Sixth Lottery ; and they were unanimously of 
opinion that one should be offered for the raising of three Thousand Pieces 
of Eight, and a scheme being laid before them by Mr Charles Stedman, 
the same was approved of, and the Management thereof committed to Mr 
Peters, Mr Turner, Mr Stedman, Mr Willing, and Mr Thomas ^Gordon, 
who were to give Bond and to be under Oath for the faithful Discharge of 
their Duty, and they were desired to take care that the Tickets be printed 
by Mr Hall, and the scheme inserted in the next Gazette. 

This last caution deprived Mr. Bradford of an advertise- 
ment in his Journal, as they had not forgotten his anonymous 
correspondent of two years before, who had maligned the 
Collecre and its administrators for their resort to Lotteries. 



380 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXIII. 

Dr. Smith on his return from England in 1759 brought 
from Thomas Penn his gift to the College of his one-fourth part 
of the Manor of Perkasie in Bucks County, containing twenty-five 
hundred acres, through which the Perkiomen Creek coursed. 
This was thankfully acknowledged and Dr. Alison and Mr. Coxe 
were appointed a Committee to view the property, and they 
reported to the Trustees on 8 July, 1760, upon its condition, 
and recommended its sale : 

The Land will now sell better than at any time hereafter, for many 
years to come, for the Tenants are pretty well able to purchase, having 
cleared a great Quantity of Land for Corn. * * * If we do not sell 
the Lands the present inhabitants will move off and purchase elsewhere, 
and sell their Leases to poor wretches for a Sum of Money, who will 
destroy the Lands to pay this Sum and to enrich themselves and probably 
leave our Rent unpaid. * * * On the whole we think that we can 
sell the whole Tract for three thousand pounds } 

This gift of the Proprietary was in the nature of a permanent 
grant to the Institution in lieu of the annuity of ;^50 he had 
from the first granted to the Provost, and as the present rental 
of the quarter of the Manor amounted by the Committee's 
report to but £4"^.^, the present gift was of no advantage to 
the College unless a sale could be made for ready funds which 
in another investment would yield more income : 

as Lands were now at a very high price owing to the Abundance of money 
thrown into the Country by the Army, * * * and Mr Peters was 
desired to send Mr Penn a copy of the Report and Opinion of the Trus- 
tees and a proper Letter on the Subject. 

But manj^ months elapsed before the President, Dr. Peters, acted 
in this request, and at the meeting of 10 February, 1761, 



^ Of this Tract 714 acres were valued at ;^i-i5 per acre. 



878 " 


" l.IO 


250 " 


1.05 


150 " 


I. 


175 " 


.18 


333 " 


" about .10 



2500 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 381 

he acquainted the Trustees that some Difficulties arising on the more 
mature Consideration of the Matter he had communicated to some of the 
Trustees who were of opinion that it ought to be postponed till it could be 
better considered, thereupon the Trustees went upon a serious Considera- 
tion of it and appointed Mr Peters, Mr Chew, & Mr Edward Shippen a 
Committee to draw up a letter- to Mr Thomas Penn to desire leave to make 
sale thereof and to dispose of the Money arising therefrom in some other way 
more advantageous to the Academy and to preserve the same Reservations 
as were in the Deed. 

The suggestion for an early realization by sale of this gift 
of realty may not have been welcomed by the Proprietary; but 
however that may be he completely dissembled it when he 
finally wrote them on ii August, 1762 : 

As I have the establishment of the Institution veiy much at heart, 
and am truly sensible that the constant attention and car§ with which you have 
executed your Trust has under the Blessing of the Almighty raised the 
reputation of the College and Academy very high, and so as to answer all 
the good Purposes at first intended, it is a great Satisfaction to me to assist 
in promoting so good a Work, and I wish to do it in such a Manner as 
shall be most agreeable to yourselves, provided I can be convinced such 
Method will tend to the real advantage of it considering the future as well 
as the present Time. This consideration has induced me to defer for so 
long a time the sending an Answer to your very respectful and obliging 
Letter, and I have not only waited to consider the proposal you have made 
myself, but have desired the Sentiments of one or two of my most valuable 
Friends, and they do also fortify me in my own opinion that it will be 
most for the Interest of the College to keep the Lands I have granted, as 
in the common course of things they must, though they should not be 
taken the best care of, yield much more to those that are to come after us, 
than the Sum you propose to raise from the Sale of them ; I am therefore 
under a Necessity of desiring you will not think I act an unkind part 
when I refuse to comply with your Request. 

But that the Trustees 

may not be greatly disappointed I have proposed that we should give Five 
Hundred Pounds Sterling to the present Collection [now making by Dr. 
Smith], and if that should not amount to a sum sufficient to answer your 
Expectations I shall be willing to add a subscription of ^50 Currency a 
year, till such time as it is redeemed by a Benefaction of as great value. 

Dr. Smith's presence in England was helpful to a solution 
of this matter ; and besides this contribution to the Collection,. 



382 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the promised annuity practically continued the sum formerly 
granted the Provost, for which Mr. Penn recognized that the 
Perkasie gift was not an equivalent. This was read at the 
meeting of 9 November, 1762, and the- Trustees 

in considering the handsome and kind Manner in which the Proprietary 
had expressed his favourable Sentiments of the Trustees and their Con- 
duct, and the fresh Instances he had given of his Generosity, declared 
unanimously their Satisfaction with the Proprietary's Determination and 
good Pleasure, though he had not been pleased to favour their request. 



LXIV. 

But we must now return to Dr. Smith's visit to England, 
where we have seen that he arrived early in the month of March, 
1762, bearing letters and instructions to aid him in his collections 
on behalf of the College, whose funds were proving inadequate 
to its proper maintenance and its further reputation. The rep- 
resentative of no other College would have been so well received 
in England as one from an institution which attracted to itself so 
powerful an influence at home, and no one better fitted for such 
representation than the young Scotch Provost whose native 
trait of loyalty, now that he was in the orders of the State 
Church, made him an Englishman of Englishmen. Harvard, 
and Yale, and Princeton, were perhaps more self reliant, being 
without those Home relations which were so promising to the 
Colleges in Philadelphia and New York when their Appeals were 
presented. King's College had turned its face at this time and 
with the same end to England, and Dr. Smith on his arrival 
found that the field was not his own ; but with his ready 
adaptability to circumstances, he prepared himself to work in 
partnership as well as he could single handed. 

The meeting of the Trustees held on 15 December, 
1 76 1, at which these Letters and Instructions were approved 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 383 

was well attended, Messrs. Peters, Stedman, Chew, Willing, 
Duche, Thomas and Phineas Bond, White, Coleman, Coxe, 
Edward Shippen, Inglis and Plumsted, being present. They 
addressed " All Charitable Persons, Patrons of Literature, and 
Friends of Useful Knowledge " and 

humbly represented, That about twelve years ago sundry Gentlemen of 
the City of Philadelphia, observing the rapid Growth of the said City and 
Province, through the vast accession of People from different parts of the 
World, became seriously impressed with a View of the Inconvenience that 
must necessarily arise in such a place if left destitute of the necessary 
means of Instruction. They saw with concern that after the Death of the 
first settlers (many of whom were well educated before they came into 
America) the generality of their Descendants were in danger of degene- 
rating into the greatest ignorance, as few of them could afford the Expence of 
educating their Children in distant Places, and there was but little Prospect 
of seeing anything speedily done in a publick way for the Advancement of 
Knowledge. To prevent as much as possible these Inconveniences and to 
make some adequate Provision for training up a Succession of Good Men, 
for the Service of their Country in these remote parts the above mentioned 
Seminary was begun by private Subscriptions, and through the Blessing of 
Almighty God and the Liberality of Individuals though unassisted by any 
Publick Encouragement it has in after years arrived to a very great Degree 
of Perfection. Sundry excellent youths have already been raised in it as 
well for the sacred office of the Ministry, as for the civil Professions of Life. 
It consists at present of near two hundred Students and Scholars besides 
•eighty Boys and forty Girls educated on charity. ■» * * Though the 
greatest Qiconomy hath been used in every part of the Design and nothing 
attempted but what the Circumstances of so growing a place seemed abso- 
lutely to require, yet the necessary expence attending so large an undertak- 
ing hath greatly exceeded all the Resources in the power of the Trustees, 
and as the charge of the Seminary is now £700 annually more than its 
Income, they have the disagreeable Prospect of seeing its Funds in a few 
years wholly exhausted and an end put to its Usefulness after all their 
labours for its support unless they can procure the assistance of generous 
and well disposed persons abroad. * * * They cannot doubt but that 
a Seminary of Learning placed in one of the most important Cities and 
central Provinces of America, will meet with all due Encouragement from 
the Friends of Religion and Learning in Great Britain and Ireland. * * * 
And they hereby promise that whatever shall be contributed to that End 
shall be faithfully applied upon the same liberal and pious Plan whereon it 
was first founded and hath hitherto been so successfully carried on. And they 
"further promise that due care shall be taken to preserve Lists of the Con- 



384 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

tributors and to perpetuate their Names in the Institution with Gratitude to 
the latest generations . 

The burden of this appeal would seem to ignore the exist- 
ence of the now venerable college at Cambridge and the well 
grown institution at New Haven, were it not for thought of the 
stress laid upon the establishment of a like college on a sound 
financial basis in a chief city in the new country, for the College 
in Philadelphia was the first practical attempt made to plant an. 
institution with like ambitious plans in a community whose bus- 
iness connections and influences exceeded all other centres in the 
colonies. A like attempt was being followed by King's College 
in New York, but it had not won for itself in the same term the 
like reputation of its elder sister of Philadelphia. It may well 
be assumed, however, that the advanced and thorough curriculum 
of the latter, which had now survived its experiment of a three 
years' trial and become an established system, justly inspired the 
Trustees with the pleasant thought that the aims of the Seminary 
whose care was in their Trust had attained a much higher plane 
than any of the other like institutions in the provinces ; and who so 
fitting to represent its claims and needs abroad than the well 
trained scholar who had placed its reputation as a school so 
high ? 

An address was likewise prepared to the Proprietaries, 
Thomas and Richard Penn, 

returning them most hearty Thanks for all the Instances of their Generosity 
and Protection which they had shown to this Institution, by means of which 
and the Liberality of many other good Friends of Learning they have been 
enabled to carry it on for the space of Twelve Years and have now the 
pleasure of seeing its Reputation extensive and its Usefulness generally 
acknowledged and felt. But amidst the Satisfaction arising from this we- 
find that all Resources in our Power will be insufficient to support it for 
any Number of years its Annual Expen'ce so far exceeding its Income as 
continually to diminish our Capital ; [and commending Dr. Smith] to their 
kind advice and assistance in prosecuting this good Design, being well 
assured that benevolent spirit and Love of Learning, which induced them 
so freely to become the kind Patrons of this Seminary will be sufficient 
Motives with them to countenance and encourage this Design for its 
completion. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 385 

Another letter was addressed alone to Thomas Penn, 
mainly on the subject of the disposition of the Perkasie Manor 
property which the Trustees deemed best to sell and realize a 
sum of money which they could invest to better advantage; 
to this, however, as we have already seen, a negative answer was 
returned by Mr. Penn. 

These were enough for one meeting. Two days later the 
same Trustees met, excepting Messrs, Chew, Willing, Duche and 
Coleman, and agreed upon certain instructions to Dr. Smith, and 
made provision for his expenses as well as for the supply of his post 
in the college, which Mr. Ewing had been desired to do "in his ab- 
sence and he had kindly promised to do it upon a proper Com- 
pensation for Trouble," and " Mr. Peters and Mr. Stedman were 
desired to settle the sum that should be allowed him." He had 
so faithfully and well supplied Dr. Smith's place in his former 
absence, that Dr. Smith could leave his pupils with confidence 
under his care, a confidence he found not misplaced on his 
return to them in 1764. 

Dr. Smith's instructions were placed in full on the Minutes. 
In the outset they assure him they have proceeded in this affair 
very much by his Advice, and in Expectation of the hearty con- 
currence of our Honorable Proprietaries, and 

we trust and desire you will lose no time either in embarking for England 
or when there in setting about and carrying on this good work with your 
utmost Zeal, Prudence, and Assiduity, first waiting on the Proprietaries 
that by their Council and Recommendation you may be enabled to make 
a good beginning. 

Here the urgent Perkasie matter comes in : 

Do not neglect to let Mr. Thomas Penn know that as Lands are now at 
a high Price, owing to our present happy flow of Wealth, if he be inclined 
to favour our application for their sale, the sooner he sends his Orders the 
greater Benefit will be likely to accrue to the Academy. 

And then the Instructions proceed : 

If Mr. Franklin should be in England on your Arrival, we desire you 
will wait upon him, lay before him your several Papers, acquaint him with 



386 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

our Necessities, consult with him and desire he will give you all the assist- 
ance in his Power and we doubt not but he will readily advise and assist 
you and that by his Means you may be recommended to many Persons of 
Wealth and Distinction . If any other of the Trustees should happen to 
be in England whilst you are engaged in this Business, you are to consult 
with them from time to time, as occasion may require. 

The Treasurer was "ordered to pay him the sum of one 
hundred and fifty Pounds Currency which is advanced towards 
the charge that may attend the service" and they add "we 
trust you will lay it out with the utmost Frugalit)^ and be care- 
ful to Keep an exact Account of every Expence that you shall 
be put in the Prosecution of this Business." The dangers of a 
voyage in those times were provided for ; 

Mr Peters on our behalf has given you a Credit on Mess Barclay & 
Co as far as an hundred Pounds Sterling. If you arrive safe there may be 
no use for it, but in case you shall fall into the hands of the Enemy it may 
be of use to obtain a decent support and a quick Exchange and conveyance 
to England. 

The instructions continued with precision and thorough- 
ness to the end. 

If in six Months after your arrival in England you shall not meet 
with Encouragement nor see any Prospect of it, we would have you lose no 
Time but take the first opportunity that shall offer of returning home. But 
if you shall meet with good success, we think it too great a Risque for you 
to carry large sums of Money about you, and therefore order you whenever 
the sum collected becomes considerable to pay or order it to be paid into 
the Hands of Mess Barclay & Co. whom we have appointed our Agents for 
the receipt of all sums that shall be collected on this Occasion, sending 
them always along with the Money or Order an exact List of the Names of 
such as you shall have received it from which Lists we would have trans- 
mitted to us from Time to Time that we may know how you go on. * * * 
You will not fail to write full accounts of your proceedings to us by every 
opportunity; 

and adding " we most heartily pray for your Safe Arrival and 
good Success," this statesmanlike document was concluded. 
Dr. Peters' schooling in the Service of the Proprietaries had well 
qualified him to draft the proper instructions to a plenipoten- 
tiary. 

Armed with these letters and guided by these instructions, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 387 

the Provost made his final arrangements for departure on a Mis- 
sion which while it had some promise in it was at the same time 
the cause of anxiety to those interests which he was now so not- 
ably to serve ; we can read between the lines as it were of these 
proceedings of the Trustees and recognise the grave concern 
which prompted this serious movement to resuscitate the finances 
of the College and secure a further lease of life for its usefulness ; 
and Dr. Smith's cheerful alacrity in responding to the summons 
testified to his sense of the necessity of the case, and without 
hesitation he ventured on his winter voyage. On 10 January, 
1762, he preached in Christ Church the funeral sermon over the 
Rev. Dr. Jenney, its Rector, and on the 25th he took his depar- 
ture from Philadelphia for New York, where he remained until 
13 February for a suitable opportunity and on which day he 
sailed for England. He could not have contemplated, when he 
left, that an interval of more than two years and a half would 
occur before his home would welcome his return. His time in 
New York afforded him a renewal of his intercourse with Dr. 
Johnson, who was now made acquainted with the objects of 
his visit to England, and as King's College had like needs with 
its fellow College in Pennsylvania for present support, the 
thoughts of Dr. Johnson and his co-laborers had already turned 
to the Mother Country hoping for aid, and it is not unlikely that 
Dr. Smith talked over his plans with them, and we shall not be 
surprised to see the two Colleges soliciting collections side by 
side, by their respective emissaries, for their treasuries, although 
Dr. Smith soon after his arrival in England found to his regret 
that instead of proceeding individually it was the better plan to 
proceed in partnership. 

On reaching London early in March he prepared 

an Humble Representation by William Smith D. D, Provost of the College, 
Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia, in behalf of said Semi- 
nary, and by appointment of the Trustees thereof, To all Charitable Per- 
sons and Patrons of Useful Knowledge,^ 

which is a recapitulation and extension of the petition prepared 
by the Trustees already noticed, and which he employed in 
^ Smith, i. 295. 



388 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

preference to the briefer Address they had approved. To his 
Humble Representation he added this Postscript : 

As many pious Persons and Friends of Literature, whom the Writer 
of this cannot possibly know of, nor wait upon at their respective Places of 
abode, may be desirous of contributing to this useful Seminary, they will 
be pleased to observe that Benefactions will be received for it by the fol- 
lowing Gentlemen, Bankers, viz : Sir Charles Asgill and Company, Lom- 
bard Street, and Mess Drummond and Company, at Charing Cross. 

He had not yet communicated with David Barclay & Co. He 
presented his letters to Mr. Thomas Penn who received him 
graciously and promised to forward his scheme all in his power. 
" It is impossible, indeed, forme" he writes " to express how 
hearty and zealous Mr. Penn is in this business." On 19 March 
he waited upon Dr. Seeker the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
from him he "obtained the hint that if a Brief should be sought 
for by him that there had been so many applications of that sort 
of late, that he feared it would produce but little." The Arch- 
bishop of York promised him also his countenance and aid. On 
his arrival Dr. Smith had discovered there were two prime ways 
for him to pursue in making his collections ; his Humble Rep- 
resentation was in print, but it must be employed with skill ; he 
could either communicate personally and upon influential intro- 
duction to the individual wealthy and well disposed, or seek the 
other plan, which was more formal but of the highest influence, 
that of attaining a Royal Brief; and he soon decided to make 
application for this. 

The Brief was the technical term given to letters patent written in the 
royal name to the incumbent of every parish in England, directing him to 
recommend to his congregation some charitable object which the King 
was particularly desirous of promoting, and authorising Collections to be 
made by specially appointed Commissioners 'from house to house' — these 
are the words of the Brief throughout the Kingdom in aid of the under- 
taking.^ 

The following clauses of the Brief describe its authority 
and scope. 

And therefore in pursuance of the Tenor of an Act of Parliament, 



Memoirs of the Rev. William Smith, D. D. C. J. Stille, p 25. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 389 

made in the Fourth Year of the Reign of the late Queen Anne, entitled 
An Act for the better collecting Charity Money on Briefs by Letters Patent, 
and preventing abuses in relation to such charities. Our Will and Pleasure is, 
and we do hereby (for the better Advancement of these our Pious intentions) 
require and command all Ministers, Teachers, and Preachers, Church 
Wardens, Chapel Wardens, and the Collectors of this Brief, and all others 
concerned, that they and every of them observe the Directions in the said 
Act contained, and do in all Things conform themselves thereunto ; and 
that when the printed copies of these Presents shall be tendered unto you 
the respective Ministers and Curates, Church Wardens and Chapel War- 
dens, and to the respective Teachers and Preachers of every separate Con- 
gregation, that you, and every of you, under the Penalties to be inflicted by 
the said Act, do receive the same. 

And you the respective Ministers and Curates, Teachers and Preach- 
ers, are, by all persuasive Motives and Arguments, earnestly to exhort your 
respective Congregations and Assemblies to a liberal Contribution of their 
Charity for the Pious Intent and Purpose aforesaid And you the said Church 
Wardens and Chapel Wardens, together with the Minister, and some of 
the substantial Inhabitants of the several Parishes and Places accompany- 
ing them, are also hereby required to go from House to House, upon the 
Week Days next following the Publication of these Presents, to ask and 
receive from the Parishioners, as well Masters and Mistresses, as Servants 
and others in their Families, their charitable and Christian Contributions 
and to take the Names in Writing of all such as shall contribute hereunto, 
and the Sum and Sums by them respectively given, and indorse the whole 
Sums upon the said printed Briefs, in Words at Length, and subscribe the 
same with their proper Hands, together with the Name of the Parish or Place 
where, and the Time when collected, and to enter the same in the publick 
Books of Account kept for each Parish and Chapelry respectively; and the 
Sum and Sums collected, together with the said printed Briefs, so endorsed, 
you are to deliver to the said Deputies and Agents authorized to receive the 
same. * * * 

And lastly. Our will and pleasure is, That no Person or Persons 
shall receive the said printed Briefs or Monies collected thereon, but such 
only as shall be deputed and made the Bearer and Bearers of these Pres- 
ents, or Duplicates thereof. 

In witness whereof We have caused these Our Letters to be made 
Patent and to continue in Force for One Whole Year from Michaelmas Day 
next, and no longer. 

The " Trustees and Receivers of the charity to be collected 
by virtue of these Presents, with Power to any P'ive or more of 
them, to give Deputations to such Collectors as shall be chosen 



390 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

by the said Petitioners, or their Agents here," were, the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, the Lord Chancellor, Henley, the Arch- 
bishop of York, Earl Granville, President of the Council, the 
Earl of Egremont, one of the Secretaries of State, the Earl of 
Bute, the Earl of Halifax, the Bishops of London, of Durham, 
of Winchester, and of St. David's, Lord Sandys, Sir Charles 
Hardy, Thomas Penn and Richard Penn, Proprietors of Penn- 
sylvania, Joseph Hudson and George Clark, Esquires, Doctor 
Samuel Chandler, Doctor William Smith, Doctor James Jay, 
Daniel Moore, Robert Charles, and Lynford Lardner, Esquires, 
Barlow Trecothick and William Neate, Merchants, Thomas 
Stevenson and John Stevenson, Gentlemen. 

Endorsed on the Brief was " the clause in the Act of Par- 
liament made in the 4th and 5th of Queen Anne, against farm- 
ing of Briefs," and reciting the Penalty " N. B. The penalty on 
Ministers, Church Wardens and others neglecting any Thing 
required in this Act, is Twenty Po7aids." 

But before this point was reached, he found that King's 
College was already in the field. His stay in New York early 
in February and conferences with Dr. Johnson on his plans had 
now borne fruit in the latter proposing to his Governors to solicit 
funds in England in like manner, and as Dr. James Jay, was 
about proceeding to England on private business he was com- 
missioned to seek the contributions of those at Home for the 
College. He had sailed from New York i June, 1762, bearing 
letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury and "To all Patrons of 
Learning and Knowledge, and Friends of the British Empire in 
America, The Governors of the Province of New York in the 
City of New York in America, Greeting," bearing date 14 May, 
1762, which were of the authorship of Dr. Johnson. His instruc- 
tions were signed by J. T. Kempe, Henry Barclay, Samuel 
Auchmuty, Samuel Johnson and James Duane. 

As it is impossible in a Transaction of this Nature to be very particular, 
and as the Corporation place great confidence in the Doctor's Prudence, 
we submit the general Conduct of this Affair to him ; and we therefore 
only request he will correspond with the Committee as often as opportunity 
will admit and acquaint us with the Progress he has made and the further 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 391 

Prospect he has had of advancing the Design he has been so good as to 
undertake, for the Interest of the College. * * * A Brief would be 
very beneficial, but whether there is a prospect to obtain this will be the 
best judged of by their Lordships, [i, e. the Archbishop of Canterbury 
and the First Lord of Trade, to whom he was to apply for Advice] as soon 
as he conveniently can after his Arrival. 

Dr. Jay, " a gentleman of this city, of a liberal education 
and of Eminence in his Profession," was a native of West- 
chester County, New York, the fourth son of Peter Jay 
and an elder brother of Hon. John Jay. On arriving in 
England he at once communicated with Dr. Smith, and 
doubtless suggested a joint concern in their matters. He 
had already taken steps to securing a Brief, and the authorities 
entertaining this, the Archbishop of Canterbury advised Dr. 
Smith to make a similar application, and recommended them 
both that a joint application on behalf of both Colleges should 
be made to the King. 

Dr. Smith appeared much disappointed at this turn of 
affairs, and he wrote home on 10 July : 

Just now I am so disconcerted that, I know not what to do. * * * 
Dr. Jay has just called on me, and told me that, some business of his own 
calling him to England, the people of the College at New York had applied 
to and empowered him to solicit money for them . Here was a strange 
clashing of interests and applications, and the common friends of both 
Colleges were afraid that both schemes might be defeated by this method 
of doing business, and that the public would be disgusted with such fre- 
quent applications, and so close upon the heels of each other. A proposal 
was made to unite both designs, but I thought my own interest best, pro- 
vided the good Archbishop shared his countenance equally, and we could 
agree to keep at a good distance from each other ; nor could I well stomach 
the thought of being concerned with people who had followed so close 
upon us as if on purpose to interfere with and prevent our success. ^ 

To the Trustees he writes of the : 

Great perplexity which the Headlong and ill-timed Application from the 
College of New York gave to the Archbishop and other great Personages 
who were equally disposed to serve both Designs. * * * After the 
Transactions and clashing of Interests, whereof my former letters will fully 
acquaint you, it was agreed, with the particular Advice of the Archbishop, 

^ Smith i. 300. 



392 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr, Penn and Dr. Chandler, and also by his Majesty's express approba- 
tion, and Lord Bute's desire, that the two Designs should be united. * * * 
And that his Majesty himself would so far show his Countenance to this 
Plan, as to begin it with a Mark of his Bounty to both Institutions. 

That same concurrence of thought had existed between 
Dr. Smith and Dr. Johnson on this subject in their February 
conferences, there can be little doubt. Dr. Johnson was unpre- 
pared to cross the ocean himself, and at that moment there was 
no one to send. But after Dr. Smith's departure from New 
York, the knowledge of Dr. Jay's proposed visit to England 
afforded Dr. Johnson the opportunity desired of a personal 
solicitation from friends in England. Dr. Jay says : 

While I was in New York, and intending to come to England on 
some business of my own, the Rev Dr Johnson proposed it to me to make 
a Collection in this Kingdom, for the Benefit of that Seminary which I 
consented to do. The Doctor called a meeting of the Governors of the 
College and laid the matter before them and they appointed a Committee 
to confer with me on the subject. 

Dr. Jay's immediate consultations with Dr. Smith on his 
reaching England testify to his knowledge of Dr. Smith's 
plans, and of his readiness to join the work of the two Colleges 
in one comprehensive scheme. But by previous correspondence. 
Dr. Jay may have prepared the way in a measure for his work, 
knowing that the Philadelphia ambassador had already been 
three months on the ground ; and while Dr. Smith had hesitated 
about resorting to a brief, hoping great things doubtless from 
the Penn influence. Jay had lost no time in complying 
with his special instructions and had applied for a Brief 
immediately on his arrival. Dr. Smith afterwards wrote of him : 
" Jay is an active and sensible young fellow."^ 

In the union of these two appeals, great gain was made 
for both, as the results proved and each College was materially 
bettered by the joint mission, for time was saved by each, and 
the minister of each traveling in different ways could present to 

* He was five years the junior of Smith. See Dr. Jay's Letter- to the Governor 
of the College of Ne7v York respecting the Collection for the Colleges of Philadelphia 
and New York, London, 1 771, by Sir James Jay, Knight, M. D. This pamphlet 
exhibited the unhappy controversy he fell into with the College authorities on the 
closing of his collections. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 393 

his auditors and his friends two noble schemes of education 
which the New England in distant Pennsylvania and New York 
were endeavoring to plant on sure foundations. The early 
disappointment of Dr. Smith was turned into a measure of 
success he had hardly hoped for. Eventually Dr. Smith 
admitted this in his letter of ii February, 1764, when he says : 
" taking the cause of New York along with ours, rather than 
acting in opposition, by which each of us have got double of 
what we could in that case have hoped for singly." Jay's appeal 
had shown a great strength, inasmuch as he represented a 
" King's College," whose title alone appealed directly to 
royalty, and with success, and the royal bounty was testified to in 
the sum of £400 to the College he represented, while the 
Philadelphia College was remembered to the extent of but £200. 
When the tidings of the Prince's birth reached New York, the 
Governors of the College prepared an address of loyal congrat- 
ulations to the King, which Dr. Jay presented in person on 23 
April, 1763, at which time he was knighted by the King.^ 

Dr. Smith's description of the issue of the Brief is told to 
the Trustees in that loyal strain in which his enthusiasm showed 
the brightest, and concludes the letter already quoted.'' 

The glorious 12 August (the ist o. s.) remarkable heretofore for so 
many good things, viz : the Battle of the Boyne '' and Minden, and the 
accession of the present Royal Family ; became again remarkable for the 
Birth of a young Prince, the accession of the Riches of the Hermione, a 
larger prize than Anson's, and if small things may be mentioned after these, 
the ordering and passing our Brief, which three things happened before 
9 o'clock on Thursday Morning. For the Prince [George IV.] was born 
half an hour past seven ; the Treasure passed by the Palace a little after Eight, 
and the Council that met before Nine to Register the Birth did our Busi- 
ness. The circumstances attending this were as honorable to us as any- 
thing could be. For finding that we could get no Council to meet on our 
Account, and finding that the Chancellor and others thought not very 
favorably of the Design, as it might lead to too frequent Applications of 
the like Nature from the Colonies, we fixed before hand with the Archbishop 



5 Sir James J ay died in New York, 12 October, 1815. 
^Minutes of November 1762. 

^ Here he wrote hastily, for the Battle of Boyne was on i July, i( 
and that of Minden on i August, 1759, n. s. 



394 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

that the Council of State Officers that should immediately meet on the 
joyous Occasion of the Queen's Delivery would not only be the most favour- 
able Moment for us, but also the most honourable if any of such Business 
could be introduced. The good Archbishop engaged to try what could be 
done, and I got the Clerks of the Council to promise me early Notice to 
attend with the Petition. The Event, however, happened sudden and easy 
to the Queen, as every Briton had prayed it might and before I could hear 
of it, and had huddled on my Gown to run to St. James' with my Petition, the 
Council was convened in the King's Closet. I meditated whether it was 
proper to send in any Thing under cover to the Archbishop while in the 
Royal Presence, and as I was perplexing myself about this, the Council 
rose. I immediately saw his Grace, who wished me double Joy, on the 
Birth of a Prince and the Completion of our Business, of which he had not 
been unmindful. For before he went into Council, he desired Lord Egre- 
mont, who presides in Lord Granville's absence, to propose it. His Lord- 
ship doubted whether anything of Business had been ever introduced 
on such an occasion. Lord Bute, who was very willing to have our busi- 
ness through, observed that there was on the present occasion, one other 
Piece of Business to be done, viz : qualifying Lord Berkly as Constable of 
the Tower, and that ours might also be done. When the Council met. 
Lord Egremont did aci ordingly propose our affair (the Archbishop giving 
the Substance of the Petition, for I had got the original) and after some few 
Objections and Answers to them, our good and gracious King himself signi- 
fied his Royal Pleasure that if there was nothing contrary to Right in what we 
desired, it might be granted, and Lord Bute further informed that his 
Majesty had so far approved the Thing already as to be a Contributor to it ; 
upon which it was imanimously and without more Difficulty agreed to, the 
Chancellor and other State Officers being present ; and I have this Moment 
received the Order of Council from Mr Sharpe who has been truly oblig- 
ing in the Affair and made a present of his Fees to the Design, though the 
other Fees are still pretty high. 

Would that the hfe of the young Prince who first saw hght this 
day had been equally meritorious in its purposes and aims as 
were those of the Brief now granted at the Council called tO' 
register his birth. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 395 
LXV. 

That portion of the Instructions to Dr. Smith relating to Dr. 
Franklin appears in effect to have failed in compliance with on his 
part, if absence of such reference to it in his letters can be 
accepted as evidence. The instruction to consult and advise 
with him could neither have been agreeable to Dr. Smith or 
welcome to the latter. Political controversies at home had 
been so embittered as to diminish any cordiality which in their 
first intercourse may have existed between them ; and Franklin 
could not have forgotten the injurious reference in the American 
Magazine of October, 1758, to his reputed claims of certain 
discoveries in Electricity made by its Editor at a time and in a 
publication of general circulation when he was too faraway from 
home to promptly acknowledge its unkindness ; but it must have 
afforded Franklin a grim satisfaction to learn that the number 
which was so freighted with injustice was the last issue of a Maga- 
zine which had been published and edited in interests which were 
in no wise friendly to him. However, this maybe, we may well 
suppose their intercourse, for the brief period they were at the 
same time in London, was strained ; all we know is Dr. Smith's 
account of his earlier collections made before the issue of the 
Brief he sent by the hands of Dr. Franklin to the Treasurer,^ 
and this implies some recognition of the instructions of the 
Trustees ; but as Dr. Smith for personal and other reasons 
greatly counted upon the influence of the Penn family, he could 
not seek that of Franklin with any intent of abiding by it should 
it run counter to the paths pointed out by the Proprietaries. It 
has been claimed that Dr. Franklin opposed Dr. Smith's efforts 
by insinuating to his friends the narrowness of the institution 
which was sought to be benefited, and in effect thwarted his 
efforts in certain influential quarters.^ But the circumstances of 
the case do not sustain the charge in the absence of any direct 
evidence to that effect. That Dr. Franklin felt less interest in 



1 Letter to Dr. Peters, 24 April, 1763. This appears to be his only reference 
to an intercourse with Dr. Franklin. Smith i. 317. 
^ Smith i. 326. Dr. Stille's Memoir p. 30. 



396 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the institution than formerly there can be but little doubt ; but 
his lukevvarmness now was rather to the representative than 
the constituent. Dr. Smith's plans for Collections were not put 
at once into execution as he soon recognized, as we have seen, 
the value and importance of securing a Royal Brief, although he 
had obtained some of the first fruits of his visit ; his prime 
efforts being reserved until armed with the plenitude of the 
Brief. He did not receive a copy of the Fiat of the Brief until 
18 August, which was formally issued on the 19th, while Dr. 
Franklin was on board ship on 17 August in the Downs waiting 
a favorable wind to carry him home.^ The latter had no 
influence at Court wherewith to impede Dr. Smith's steps, and 
he was on the sea when the Brief was issued. No intimation 
occurs in his letters to the Trustees implying he had met with 
any obstacles by Franklin, which had they existed would have 
been eminently proper for him to inform them of, if only to 
relieve himself from the imputation of neglecting their special 
instructions in the premises ; indeed, it has been seen, that he 
made Dr. Franklin the bearer of his first statement of receipts 
to the Trustees,* which he would have been relieved from had 
any imputation arisen of Dr. Franklin's efforts to thwart his 
plans. The only allusion to an opposition of Dr. Franklin 
to his work occurs in a private letter of Dr. Smith, where he 
recites that 

an eminent Dissenter called on me, and let me know that Dr Franklin took 
uncommon pains to misrepresent our Academy, before he went away, to 
sundry of their people, saying, that it was a narrow, bigoted institution, put 
into the hands of the Proprietary party as an engine ot government ; that 
the Dissenters had no influence in it (though, God knows, all the Professors 
but myself are of that persuasion) with many things grievously reflecting 
upon the principal persons concerned in it ; that the country and Province 
would readily support it if were not for these things ; that we have no occa- 
sion to beg ; and that my zeal proceeds from a fear of its sinking, and my 
losing my livelihood. * * * The virulence of Dr Frankhn on this 



^ Bigelow iii. 210. 

* Smith i. 306, 319, " ^300. of the cash I sent Mr. Coleman on account by Mr. 
Franklin. * * I wonder you should desire to know what I collected before Dr. Jay 
came over. I sent an exact list of it to Mr. Coleman by Mr. Franklin, and he 
received it." Letter 24 April, 1763. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 397 

subject betrayed itself, and disgusted the gentleman who had procured me 
forty guineas to the design .^ 

In referring in his diary to his collections at Oxford, he 
complains "that at St. John's and Baliol Dr Franklin's friends 
were very averse."^ But this lack of response doubtless was due 
to the man rather than to the Provost, as they were those 
friends of Dr. Franklin who now recalled the efforts made by 
Dr. Smith to prevent Oxford bestowing on him its Doctorate.^ 

"Assuming," as Dr. Smith's Biographer writes, "the emi- 
nent dissenter to have spoken the truth, and Dr. Smith to have 
correctly reported him," the charge is a serious one, but needs 
other support, in light of the surrounding circumstances. 

At the first business meeting of the Trustees held after Dr. 
Franklin's return to Philadelphia in 1762, on 9 November, he 
attended, and must have been an interested hearer of Dr. Smith's 
letter describing the steps to and procurement of the Brief, which 
is above largely drawn upon for our information. At the meeting 
of 8 February following he attended and "presented the two 
Gold Medals the Gift of Mr Sargent of London," and submitted 
Mr. Sargent's letter written him on the subject a few days before 
he sailed from London, which would have been done before but 
for the desire of the donor that Dr. Franklin and Mr. Norris 
should elect the subject for the prizes and designate their 
recipients, which upon conference together they declined to do. 
It may be safely assumed, that it was Dr. Franklin's interest in 
the College that attracted to it these prizes of a Member of 
Parliament, who personally was a stranger to the institution or 



^ Smith i. 336. 6 Ibid i. 335. 

'' Provost Stille refers to " an imprudent letter which Dr. Smith had written to 
the authorities of the University of Oxford protesting against a proposal to confer the 
Degree of Doctor of Laws on Franklin." Memoir p. 29. His Biographer makes 
reference to this : " We are not enabled by an exhibition of Dr. Smith's objections, 
as assigned, to judge whether his action was blameworthy, excusable, or to be justi- 
fied and commended." Smith, i. 340. On Dr. Smith's arrival in England he may 
early have learned of the action of the Heads of Houses at Oxford taken on 22 Feb- 
ruary, a few weeks before " Agreed, nem con., that Mr. Franklin, whenever he shall 
please to visit the University, shall be offered the compliment of the degree of D. C. 
L., honoris causa^ and may then have pursued steps to prevent this consummation. 
The decree however was made on 30 April. In this controversy may be found the 
reason why Dr. Smith avoided communications with Franklin, though under instruc- 
tions to seek him. Sparks i. 267. 



398 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

any of its managers except Dr. Franklin. The latter's paternity, 
as it were, of these valuable prizes, the first offered to the students, 
may in part account for the tardiness in offering them to the 
students, as Dr. Alison and Dr. Ewing, to whom the design was 
committed at this February meeting, reported at the March 
meeting the present want of ability of the students to compete 
for them, and it was, as we have before seen, nearly two years 
after Dr. Smith's return to his post that finally steps were taken 
to secure competition for them. On 24 March, 1763, Dr. 
Franklin, with his fellow Trustees, Hamilton " his honor the 
Governor," Duche, Phineas Bond, Chew, Strettell, Peters, 
White, Thomas Bond, William Shippen, Coxe, and Redman 
attended " the publick Examination of the Students held in the 
public Hall before a large audience of People, and the 
Students acquitted themselves to the satisfaction of the 
Trustees." 

In the middle of April Franklin set out for Virginia on post- 
office duties,^ but returned in time to attend, as we have also seen, 
the Commencement exercises of 17 May following, "the Trustees, 
Professors, Candidates for Degrees and Scholars walking in Pro- 
cession to the Publick Hall, and as soon as seated a Mandate 
under the lesser seal authorizing the Faculty to hold a Com- 
mencement and confer the Degrees agreed to at the last meet- 
ing was delivered to the Vice Provost ;" it being by a singular 
coincidence the only Commencement he could attend. And he 
attended the meeting of 27 May, and gave his approval to the 
' draughts of the Addresses to his Majesty and Lord Bute," 
prepared by a committee consisting of Dr. Peters, Mr. Stedman 
and Mr. Duche, conveying the thanks of the Trustees for their 
royal and noble aid and countenance ; and also Dr. Peters' 
draught of his reply to Dr. Smith's letters of 8 January, 
12 February, and i March. We find him early in June 
starting on a tour to the Eastern States, again on postoffice 
claims, his daughter accompanying him, from which he did not 



8 " I am going in a few days to Virginia, but expect to be back in three or four 
weeks." Letter to Jonathan Williams, 13 April, 1763, Bigelow iii, 237. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 399 

return home until 5 November.^ These instances of Dr. 
Franklin's continued personal concern in the College warrant 
the belief that far from doing aught either at home or abroad to 
retard its prosperity, he was on the contrary prepared to serve 
it with his counsel and his influence, although doubtless with- 
holding his confidence in a great measure from the Provost, 
whose political affiliations had placed him in such opposing 
influences, which in his opinion were detrimental to the best 
interests of the College. It may be that Dr. Smith refrained 
from incorporating in his letters to the Trustees any mention of 
his apprehensions of Dr. FrankHn's unfriendliness, from the fact 
that the latter was now at home and in occasional attendance 
on the meetings of the Trustees. Had such suspicion on Dr. 
Smith's part reached Dr. Franklin's notice, some denial would 
have reached us to-day; there is certainly nothing on record 
leading us to suppose that his fellow Trustees ever doubted Dr. 
Franklin's fidelity to his Trust, however much Dr. Peters, Gov- 
ernor Hamilton and others of them might be less intimate with 
him than formerly, owing to the widening and separating influ- 
ences of provincial politics. But rumors soon reached Dr. 
Franklin's ears that Dr. Smith was at this time saying unkind 
things of him in England. His friend Miss Mary Stevenson 
wrote from London on 11 November, 1762, within two days of 
the date he had attended the first meeting of the Trustees after 
his return, one of her letters in which she must have narrated to 
him some unfriendly conduct of Dr. Smith. ^'^ He acknowl- 
edges this letter on 25 March, 1763, the day subsequent to his 
attendance upon the public examination of the students already 
noticed, and one paragraph refers to this unwelcome topic." 

I do not wonder at the behaviour you mention of Dr Smith towards 
me, for I have long since known him thoroughly. I made that man my 



^ Bigelow iii. 244. Rewrites on 15 April, 1764,10 Mrs. Catharine Greene, 
"Public business and our public confusions have so taken up my attention that I sus- 
pect I did not answer [her letter of 24 December] wlren I received it." Ibid iii. 247. 

1" Doubtless the attempt in the preceding Spring of Dr. Smith to prevent the 
Oxford degree. 

^1 Bigelow iii, 232. 



400 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

enemy by doing him too much kindness. It is the honestest way of acquir- 
ing an enemy. And, since it is convenient to have at least one enemy, who, 
by his readiness to revile one on all occasions, may make one careful of one' s 
conduct, I shall keep him an enemy for that purpose ; and shall observe 
your good mother's advice, never to receive him again as a friend. She 
once admired the benevolent spirit breathed in his sermons. She will now 
see the justness of the lines your laureate Whitehead ^^ addresses to his 
poets, and M'hich I now address to her : 

Full many 2i peevish, enviotis, slandering Elf 

Is, — in his works, — benevolence itself, 

For all mankind, — unknown, — his bosom heaves ; 

He only injures those with whom he lives. 

Read then the Man ; does truth his actions guide, 

Exempt from pettilatice, exempt from pride ? 

To social duties does his Heart attend, 

As son, as father, husband, brother, yr/V/zfl^ f 

Do those who Know him love him ? if they do. 

You've my permission, you may love him too.^^ 

It was doubtless at this time that Dr. FrankHn also wrote 
these lines in his copy of Dr. Smith's Discourses printed in 1759, 
on the fly-leaf opposite the title page where an asterisk at the name 
of the Author calls attention to them ; it was also doubtless in 
the sermons printed in this volume that good Mrs. Stevenson 
admired the benevolent spirit breathed in them. Dr. Franklin's 
handwriting cannot be questioned, and appearing without naming 
their source, many have given him the credit of their authorship, 
which, however, his letter to Miss Stevenson sets at rest. 

One cannot part with this unfortunate difference between 
the Founder and the Provost (and here we can let it rest) with- 
out now reciting the charge made by Dr. Smith affecting the 



^^ Poet Laureate in 1757, succeeding Colley Cibber. 

^^ These lines occur in William Whitehead's A Charge to the Poets, first printed 
in 1762, and found in the edition of his Plays and Poems. The italics here followed 
are Dr. Franklin's in his copy of the lines, in his letter to Miss Stevenson, in the 
possession of the descendants of Mrs. Hewson, and from which this present copy of 
his letter is rendered. These are quoted in Smith l, 341, but from the context 
the authorship of the epigram might be attributed to Franklin himself. Their repro- 
duction here seems necessary after the prominence given them by Dr. Smith's Biogra- 
pher, otherwise they might not have merited a place in a history of the Institution 
with which both were so intimately acquainted. See this letter in BigeloW, iii, 235, 
wherein, however, only the initial letter of Smith's name is given. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 401 

integrity of Dr. Franklin's electrical experiments, and which 
must have been accepted by the latter, when it came to his 
knowledge, as an unfriendly act, for it was recorded during his 
first absence abroad. In the American Magazine, already 
quoted from as under Dr. Smith's editorship, the latter in his 
Account of the College and Academy in its last number 
includes the names of the Professors and gives some statement 
of their respective abilities and reputation ; and in speaking of 
Mr. Kinnersley he uses this language : 

He is well qualified for his position ; and has moreover great merit 
with the learned world in being the chief inventor (as already mentioned) 
of the Electric apparatus, as well as author of a considerable part of those 
discoveries in Electricity published by Mr Franklin to whom he commu- 
nicated them. Indeed Mr Franklin himself mentions his name with 
honor, tho' he has not been careful enough to distinguish between their 
particular discoveries. This, perhaps, he may have thought needless, as 
they were known to act in concert. But tho' that circumstance was known 
here, it was not so in the remote parts of the world to which the fame of 
these discoveries have extended. 

Allusion has before this been made in these pages to 
charges of Franklin's plagiarism in electrical experiments, that 
some of his opponents maintained, which however were not sup- 
ported by any statements of Kinnersley himself; but this is no 
place to discuss their merits ; and the fact remains that when 
preferred in this public manner, and in Franklin's absence 
abroad by a well-known writer and one who had been intimately 
associated with him in the management of the College, they 
could not but be accepted by their object other than as an act 
of extreme unkindness and unfriendline.ss, and memory would 
retain their sting for a long time. Franklin could not but recall 
those earlier years of constant communion with him in the con- 
cerns of the young Academy, and of his own particular efforts 
to secure the young Scotch tutor to its aid at the outset. But 
Dr. Smith's, "our dear Franklin^^" of 1754, was no more, and 
Franklin had now recorded in his quotation above given the 
withdrawal of his friendship and confidence from Dr. Smith. 

1* Smith, i. 51. 



402 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

However, the lives of both were spared long enough for 
them to overcome this unhappy estrangement, and the survivor 
did large justice to his early and older friend, " his earliest 
friend in Pennsylvania,"^'' in his Eulogy on Franklin in 1791. 

From West to East, by land and on the wide ocean, to the utmost 
extent of the civilized globe, the tale hath been told — that the venerable 
sage of Pennsylvania, the patriot and patriarch of America is no more. 
* * * * Yes, thou dear departed friend and fellow citizen ! Thou, 
too, art gone before us — thy chair, thy celestial car, was first ready. We 
must soon follow, and we know where to find thee. May we seek to follow 
thee by lives of virtue and benevolence like thine — then shall we surely 
find thee, and part with thee no more forever. ^^ 



LXVI. 

Returning to the more agreeable topic of Dr. Smith's 
journeyings and collections in England, we find in the Minute 
of the King's Council of 12 August directing the issue of the 
Brief, the following recital : 

Whereas there was this day read to his Majesty at this Board the 
Joint Petition of William Smith, Doctor in Divinity, Agent for the Trustees 
of the College, Academy and Charitable School of Philadelphia, in the 
Province of Pennsylvania, and Provost of that Seminary; and of James 
Jay, Doctor in Physic, Agent for the Governors of the College of the 
Province of New York, in the City of New York in America, Setting forth. 
That the great growth of these Provinces and the continued accession of 
People to them from the different parts of the World, being some years ago 
observed by sundry of his Majesty's good subjects there, they became 
seriously impressed with a view of the inconvenience like to arise among 
so mixt a multitude, if left destitute of the necessary means of instruction, 
differing in Language and Manners, unenlightened by Religion, uncemented 
by a common Education, Strangers to the human Arts, and to the just use 
of Rational Liberty. [And reciting the fears caused by the] amazing pains 
which Popish Emissaries were every day perceived to take for the propa- 
gation of their peculiar Tenets, and the many Establishments which they 

15 Smith, ii. 345 ^ ibid, ii. 330, 343. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 403 

were making for this Purpose in all the parts of America belonging to 
them; * * * that from a deep sense of these growing Evils the 
two Seminaries aforesaid, distant about 100 miles from each other, were 
begun in two of the most important and populous trading Cities in his 
Majesty's American Dominion, nearly at the same time and with the same 
view — not so much to aim at any high Improvements in Knowledge, as to 
guard against total Ignorance; to instill into the Minds of Youth just prin- 
ciples of Religion, Loyalty and Love of our excellent Constitution, to 
instruct them in such branches of Knowledge and useful Arts as are neces- 
sary to Trade, Agriculture, and a due improvement of his Majesty' s valu- 
able Colonies; and to assist in raising up a succession of faithful Instruc- 
tors and Teachers to be sent forth not only among his Majesty's subjects 
there but also among his Indian allies, in order to instruct both in the way 
of Truth, to save them from the Corruptions of the Enemy, and help to 
remove the Reproach of suffering the Emissaries of a false Religion to be 
more zealous in propagating their Slavish and Destructive Tenets in that 
part of the world than Britons and Protestants are in promoting the pure 
form of Godliness, and the glorious plan of public Liberty and Happiness 
committed to them. * -» * But as Designs of so extensive a nature 
have seldom oeen completed (even in the most wealthy Kingdoms) unless 
by the united generosity of many private Benefactors and often by the par- 
ticular Bounty of Sovereign Princes, the Petitioners are persuaded it will 
not be thought strange that all the Resources in the power of individuals in 
young Colonies should be found inadequate to such a work, and that the 
Governor and Trustees of the said Seminaries should have the just appre- 
hension of seeing all that they have raised for their support speedily 
exhausted and an end put to their usefulness, unless they can procure assist- 
ance from distant places, as the expense of each of them is four hundred 
pounds sterling yearly above their Income, the defraying of which would 
require an additional Capital of about Six Thousand Pounds sterling a 
Piece. * * ■» That the Petitioners being accordingly appointed to 
sollicit and receive such assistance, and being sensible that the highest satis- 
faction which his Majesty's known piety and humanity can derive from the 
Prosperity and Extension of his Dominions will be to see these advantages 
improved for enlarging the sphere of Protestantism, increasing the number 
of good Men, and bringing barbarous Nations within the Pale of Religion 
and Civil life, they are, therefore encouraged humbly to pray. That his 
Majesty will be pleased to direct that a Royal Brief may be passed under 
the Great Seal of Great Britain, authorizing them to make a Collection 
throughout the Kingdom from house to house, for the joint and equal ben- 
efit of the two Seminaries, and Bodies corporate aforesaid. 

And the Brief was, with only the delay of official formalities, 
issued on 19 August. 



404 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The recounting to the Trustees of these important prehmi- 
nary steps made them ready to respond to Dr. Smith's sugges- 
tions that suitable acknowledgments be made to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, Thomas Penn, and Rev, Dr. Chandler, for their 
zealous aid and influence on behalf of his plans. At the meeting 
of 14 December, Messrs. Peters, Stedman, Chew, Edward Shippen 
and Duche, were appointed a committee to prepare suitable 
addresses, and at the meeting of 11 January "the President on 
behalf of the Committee brought in the Draughts of the Addresses 
and Letters which they were desired to prepare, and the same 
being read were settled." To the Archbishop they said : 

It gave us singular Pleasure and Satisfaction to hear of the extraordi- 
nary Countenance and Encouragement which our worthy Provost met with 
from your Grace, that you not only contributed generously yourself, but that 
it is owing principally to your good offices that our pious Design hath 
attracted the regard of the best of Kings, who hath been graciously pleased 
to make the Charity more universal by granting to us his Royal Brief. * * * 
We are willing to flatter ourselves, that our Infant Institution will be the 
Means, under a wise and good Providence, of spreading the glorious light 
of Gospel Truth over a considerable part of this untutored Continent. These 
were our sincere and Christian motives at the first erection of this Seminary, 
and by these we are still most zealously actuated in our Endeavors to sup- 
port and establish it Encouraged by your Grace's kind and condescending 
Regard, and ambitious of being patronized by a Prelate of such distin- 
guished Piety, Learning and Knowledge, we will pursue with Industry 
unwearied these benevolent Purposes. 

To the Rev. Samuel Chandler, D. D., the eminent non- 
conformist Divine, whose friendship with Dr. Smith had begun 
in his correspondence as Secretary of the Society founded in 
London in 1754 for the Education of Germans in Pennsylvania 
with him, they 

manifest their Gratitude for your kind Zeal and Influence in obtaining a 
Royal Brief to render the Charity universal [and proceeding in a more catho- 
lic vein than to the Archbishop :] this Institution was founded upon the 
most generous and charitable principles. Our views were confined to no 
particular Party, Sect or Denomination. The advancement of Learning, a 
sincere and christian regard for the Souls of our Countrymen together with 
an inviolable attachment to that Religion and Liberty which we enjoy under 
the best of Governments were the Sole Motives by which we were influ- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 405 

enced in the Foundation of this Seminary. * * * Slavery and irreligion 
were too frequently the offspring of Ignorance, and that the best and surest 
preservative from both was the good and careful Education of our Youth. 
This was the Plan upon which we set out at first, and we trust that we have 
ever since invariably adhered to it. [To Thomas Penn, they wrote grace- 
fully accepting his decision in regard to the Perkasie lands and conclude ;] 
Dr Smith in all his Letters mentions the ready Assistance which you have 
been pleased from time to time most cheerfully to afford him. We have 
indeed experienced repeated Instances of your paternal regard for our Semi- 
nary, from its very Foundation. But your kind Patronage and Countenance 
of our present pious Design, your late exemplary Contributions, your warm 
and affectionate Recommendations of it to persons of the highest Rank and 
Fortune in the Kingdom by which you have prepared the way for the Suc- 
cess with which it has been and is like to be attended, together with the 
Zeal and Influence which you have exerted in obtaining a Royal Brief in 
order to render the Charity universal, call for the highest returns of Grati- 
tude that we can possibly make. 

But meanwhile the Provost was busy in preparations for his 
journeyings in England, heralded by the Brief. This was sent by 
the instrumentality of what were known as Brief Layers, men 
who were appointed attorneys for the purpose by Dr. Smith and 
Dr. Jay to send a duly stamped copy of the Brief to each clergy- 
man in the Kingdom, and as there were eleven thousand five 
hundred of these in the Kingdom, even to furnish a majority of 
these with a certified copy of the Brief was a labor to the Brief 
Layers and so much revenue to the government.^ John Byrd, 
John Hall and John Stevenson, in the Borough of Strafford, Gen- 
tlemen, were on 24 August appointed the Brief Layers, who from 
the "money thereon collected," were to 

deduct out of the same the sum of Six Pence a Parish Chapel or meeting 
for every Brief duly certified and endorsed which shall by them be col- 
lected and received back from all Places (except within the city of London 
and weekly Bills of mortality and therein the sum of twelve Pence,) as the 
full salary and charge for Laying down, collecting and receiving back the 
said Briefs. 

On 26 August Dr. Smith wrote to the Archbishop of York, ask- 
ing his aid in the Northern Province : 

these things are most honestly and dutifully submitted to your Grace, 

1 Smith, i. 306. 



4o6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

which I have taken the Liberty to do, after having just come from the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who was pleased to say he would write to your Grace 
on this subject, and that there might be no Impropriety in my sending a 
few Lines at the same time. 

On 9 September, Dr. Smith and Dr. Jay issued a letter "To all 
worthy and Reverend the Clergy and Ministers of the Gospel 
into whose hands his Majesty's Royal Brief, for the Colleges of 
Philadelphia and New York" may come, affording them 

such further account of the Design and Usefulness of these Seminaries, as 
might enable them, upon due information, to give the People under their 
Ministry that Encouragement which we are persuaded your Christian Zeal 
will induce you to bestow upon every Scheme for the advancement of 
Religion and useful Knowledge. * * * You, Gentlemen, who are 
the Ministers of God's Word, and always foremost in every Design for the 
Instruction of Mankind, we can well depend that this so laudable an under- 
taking will meet with your particular Countenance and assistance. The 
kind Providence of God seems to have great things in view, by calling 
the British Nation to the Possession of the most important part of America; 
and the greatest of all the Glories that can accrue to this Kingdom from a 
Dominion so widely extended, will be to make use of the opportunities 
thereby given her for the advancement of divine Knowledge, and to be 
found a chosen instrument in these latter Days for calling New and here- 
tofore unexplored Countries, to the enjoyment of everything that can exalt 
Humanity at a time when so many of the old have fallen again into their 
original Barbarity. * * * What we would in a more especial manner 
pray of you is, that, together with your good offices to make our Brief as 
effectual as possible, in regard to the pious purposes for which it is granted, 
you would likewise give it all the despatch your convenience will admit of. 
And we hope our particular circumstances will be our plea for this humble 
request, being at three thousand miles distance from the places of our 
abode, and obliged at great expense to our Constituents, to wait the issue 
of this business. 

This letter, the authorship of Dr. Smith, is lengthy, but per- 
spicuous. It recites the present work of the Colleges : " near 
four hundred Youths are continually educated in them; of whom 
about sixty are intended for the learned Professions, and," here 
is a reference to the prevailing motive of all like seminaries at 
the time " particularly to furnish a Supply of Ministers and 
Teachers for the Different Societies of Christians in these parts." 
And, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 407 

many excellent Youths, who would otherwise have been destitute of all 
opportunities of a sufficient Instruction, are continually rendered useful in 
both Provinces ; and, among those of more enlarged Circumstances, a far 
greater number than ever was known at any former period, for acquiring the 
first Rudiments of learning there have been induced and enabled to finish 
their Education in this Kingdom at the Universities and Inns of Court. 

Upon the outer leaf of the copy of this letter which he sent 
Dr. Peters, he wrote these words "This Paper (which you have 
had a copy sent you before) has been worth a Thousand Pound or 
Two, to our Collection. Nothing was ever better received among 
all Ranks of the clergy." They also united in a letter of the 
same date, " To all Friends of Religion and Patrons of Useful 
Knowledge," which was with some requisite modifications the 
same Humble Representation that Dr. Smith had put forth 
shortly after his arrival and before his concern in a Brief was con- 
templated. The tempting suggestion was made that if their 
friends now gave to the two institutions, they would not be 
troubled with further solicitation. 

The Subscribers were appointed to Solicit and receive the Benefac- 
tions of pious and well disposed Persons in Great Britain and Ireland for 
the Use of these Seminaries ; and have joined both Applications in One, 
in order that, from the Importance of the Objects Such persons may be 
induced to contribute more liberally, without Fear of future Solicitations 
for any Thing of the like Kind from that Part of the World. ^ 

Thus armed and advertised the joint Commissioners set off 
from London on 29 September, 1762, Dr. Smith hastening 
Northward, as far as to Scotland his native land, and Dr. Jay 
going to the West and South. The Provost writing to the 
Trustees on 3 January, 1763 :^ 

On that day, which was as soon as we could get all the 1 1, 500 Briefs 
signed and stamped, I set out for Edinburgh and from thence went one 
hundred miles farther North to see my aged and good Father. As my 
business urged, I was obliged to do so much violence to myself as to stay 
only a few Days with him. This act of Duty I hope the Trustees will no^ 

^ The printed endorsement includes : " N. B. — The Church Wardens are 
requested to deliver this Representation (together with the Brief) to the Clergy as 
soon as it comes to their Hand ; and it is hoped they will do everything else in their 
Power to forward this pious design." 

^ Minutes, 12 April, 1763. 



4o8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

think was throwing away their time. If they should, it is the only fort- 
night, or indeed the only moment, I have lost to them. But it cannot well 
be called loss. One gentleman in that neighborhood. Sir Archibald Grant, 
gave ten pounds sterling to the Design, and will collect somewhat more for 
us. The University of Aberdeen also propose doing something. When 
at Edinburg I waited on Dr Robertson,* Dr Wishart,^ Dr Cuming,* Dr 
Jordain and others. They are well disposed to serve us, but think their 
Joint interest, though at the Head of Church of Scotland, will not be able 
next Assembly at least to procure us a National Collection. * * * 
However, the Gentlemen are to write to me on this Head, and readily 
agreed to countenance a private Collection, which may produce almost as 
much as the public one. Provost Drummond, who is the most popular 
Magistrate they have ever had, will give his Countenance to the same. 
* * * Dr Alison will not lose a moment in procuring Letters for the 
Scots Clergy whether we apply publicly or privately, and let them be here 
in April with your Instructions. * * * At Glasgow I found the. same 
Encouragement as at Edinburgh among the clergy, who professed them- 
selves pleased with the Catholic plan of having Professors of different 
Persuasions and told me that the Party in the Church of Scotland to whom 
that would be an objection were not many. But I could not stay to 
make any particular Collection either here or at Edinburg — only prepared 
matters. My being detained so long at London before I could set out for 
the North and being obliged to be at Oxford in November hampered me 
much in time. * * * On my return, I visited all the principal clergy 
in the Towns on or near the Great Road, and wrote Letters to others. In 
places where it was thought my presence would assist the Collections, we 
agreed to delay it till March, when I promised to go down again, especially 
to Yorkshire. * * -» Thus in about six weeks from my setting out I 
got back to London to meet Dr Jay, who had taken a like Tour Southward 
on the same Plan. * * After two or three days' stay in London, we set 
out again for Oxford, thinking it a compliment due to them to be both 
there. From Oxford we went to Gloucester, and to the Manufacturing 
Towns in that County, Dr Jay taking part of them and myself the other 
Part, so as to meet at Bath, which we did a day before Christmas, and then 
proceeded to London where the Briefs are now to be read in those full 
months January and February. Bristol we have delayed to the end of 
February and Bath afterwards. Dr Jay will go thither, while I go to the 
North in March. * * * We now find before us near forty Letters 
unanswered, and a continual attendance on the clergy of London neces- 



* The Historian, who in this year was elected Principal of the University of 
Edinburgh. 

* Rev. George Wishart. 
8 Rev. Patrick Cuming. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 409 

sary ; every one of whom, being near two hundred we must see within this 
fortnight, and before they can read the Brief, which we are to give them 
with our own hand. Many principal People are also to be waited on before 
the Brief is read in their particular Parish because we hope they will give 
more to one of ourselves than to a Brief, which some Persons have 
resolved never to contribute to on account of Abuses which they conceive 
are committed by the Brief Layers. * * * From the above account 
you will see that neither our plan, nor our time would permit us to collect 
much Money, yet we have not been unsuccessful even in this respect. 

And the Provost submits an account showing that Dr. Jay 
had collected from their parting to their meeting again on 20 
November, ^^121.12.6; Dr. Smith, in the same period had 
collected ;^i 87.6.0. At the University of Oxford they had 
jointly collected ;^i6i.i8.o, and in the same manner at Glou- 
cester, ;^35.io.o. Dr. Smith collected " among the clothiers at 
Stroud, where he preached and had the Brief read" ;^49.ii.6, 
and at " Uley, Dursley, and Weston Underedge, other cloathing 
towns, independent of the Brief" ^65.6.6. And Dr. Jay at 
Hamton, Tetbury and Painswick, collected ^33.4.6. 

The Brief was read at St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday, 6 
March, 1763, and a sermon preached by Dr. John Brown, Vicar 
of St. Nicholas', New Castle, on Religious Liberty, whose 

greatest and most extensive effect, joined with true Christian Zeal, would 
be a free and powerful Communication of the Glad Tidings of the Gospel 
to those many and distant Nations who as yet sit in Darkness and the 
Shadow of Death ; a duty which I should at all times be glad to Recom- 
mend, but particularly when we are entering on a Peace, which throws into 
our Hands immense savage Nations, as the greatest object of civilization ; 
and more especially at a Time when a laudable Brief is on Foot (and on 
this day read in many of the Churches of this great city) which calls on 
every Christian to contribute his share to the success of this important 
work. '' 



^ A copy of this Sermon, " published at the Request of the Managers of the 
Charity," is with the Pennsylvania Historical Society. Dr. Brown was a well- 
known writer of his day; his Essays on Shaftesbury's Characteristics, London, 
1 75 1, which were suggested to him by Warburton, and to Warburton by Pope, 
reached a fifth edition in 1764. The work which earned him the greatest reputa- 
tion was " An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times," London, 
1757, and which reached seven editions in a little more than a twelvemonth. — 
Allibone. 



4IO History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

In the letter of the Trustees to Dr. Smith of 27 May, 
1763, " they think themselves particularly obliged to Dr. Brown 
for his most excellent Sermon." 

Dr. Smith was favored with the company of one of his 
first graduates, Dr. Morgan, and one of the Trustees, Mr. Inglis. 
In his letter already quoted from, he says " Dr. Morgan is now 
collecting somewhat occasionally for us and Mr. Inglis will join 
him." In their letter of 27 May, 1763, the Trustees say to 
him : 

Mr Inglis and Dr Morgan will be able to advise you whether it is 
best to proceed now to ask private charities, or to stay as you think it 
would be better, till some time hence. Whatever you do, Mr Elliot can 
be of great assistance, and will we doubt not cheerfully give it, and furnish 
all necessary Letters and Recommendations from his Relatives who are 
numerous and have great Interest. 

A subsequent letter from the Provost asked the attention 
of the Trustees to the importance of offering their thanks to 
King George and to Lord Bute for their countenance and 
assistance. King's College had early in the matter made its 
loyal Address to the King, and later its loyal congratulations 
on the birth of the Prince, and Dr. Smith knowing the salutary 
effect of such procedure, took his Trustees to task for their 
thoughtlessness on this head ; doubtless he took it amiss on his 
own part that provision had not already been made for this. 
The Knighting of Dr. Jay at this time because he was the 
bearer of the Address of King's College, was an acute reminder 
to him of the seeming neglect of the Trustees. " I know not 
how it is," he writes them,^ 

that our College, as a body, is so diffident and apt on the first motion to 
beat down any proposal that has anything great in it. It was thought 
once that we were too little an object for national notice here. Time and 
a fair trial have taught us better on this head. Had I at first desired an 
Address from the Trustees to the King, I think it would not have been 
granted. Yet a College of less note set out with such an Address. Public 
bodies should have no shame of this sort ; I speak not this to blame 
what is past, but rather to persuade you to lift up your heads and rather 
fail in great attempts than be found too diffident. 

^ Smith, i. 320. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 411 

This letter with others was read to them on 10 May, 1763, 
but a copy does not appear in the minutes, and a special Meet- 
ing was held on 2^ May to consider the addresses framed on his 
suggestions. The warmth of loyalty expressed in the one to 
the King may have compensated for their tardiness. 

Amid the joyous Acclamations of a grateful People, exulting in a 
Happiness derived from your Majesty' s wise, just and gentle Administra- 
tion, we, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects beg leave to lay 
our sincere and humble acknowledgments at Your Majesty's Feet and to 
express the deep sense we entertain of your Royal Condescending Regard 
to the Institution under our Government and Direction. * * * Situ- 
ated as we are in the centre of a Territory, which has long been the Theatre 
of Desolation and Bloodshed, we cannot but feel a large share of that 
general joy which is now diffused through your Majesty's American 
Dominions, upon the conclusion of a Peace so honourable to our Nation, 
so peculiarly beneficial to us. By this illustrious Event, we are prompted 
not only to look with Astonishment upon your Majesty, as a Conqueror 
triumphing over your Enemies, and giving Strength and Increase to your 
Subjects and Dominions, but to revere you as a blessed instrument, in the 
hands of Providence, of planting at once the Christian and the British 
Banners, the Banners of Liberty and true Religion in these remotest 
corners of the Western World. * * * To conquer and to civilise has 
hitherto been deemed the highest Effort of human Heroism. But to com- 
pleat the Glory of your Majesty's Reign, Heaven seems to have reserved 
it for your Majesty not to conquer and civilize only, but, by spreading 
throughout your wide extended conquests the Knowledge of Christ's 
Kingdom, even to bless Millions of Mankind with the comforts of true 
Religion, and the Gospel means of Salvation. 

Could the phraseology of the concluding paragraph have 
been one of the counts of the Indictment of 1779? 

It shall be our earnest Endeavor, as far as our Influence extends, 
carefully to provide that the Principles of true Religion, good govern- 
ment, and useful learning, together with a love and Veneration for the 
British Constitution, and an unshaken Loyalty and Affection to your 
Majesty' s Person and your illustrious House, be constantly inculcated in 
the Minds of the Youth placed under our Instruction. 

To Lord Bute, they " beg leave to return your Lordship 
our most sincere Thanks and Acknowledgments for the Chear- 
fulness and Condescension with which you have been pleased 



412 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

to promote the Interest of the Seminary under our Inspection 
and Government." 

Dr. Smith, on 5 August, was taken by Mr. Penn to an 
audience with the King in order to present this Address. Mr. 
IngHs, as a Trustee, and Mr. Powel, an alumnus, accompanied 
them. The King was gracious and asked several questions 
about the College. In one of his letters he says : 

He almost got Mr Powel knighted, but thought it would be idle, and 
be considered as a design to separate him from his old friends, the 
Quakers at home ; a thought which he would scorn in regard to any of his 
Pupils. He did not know whether it would be agreeable to Mr. Powel, 
and therefore gave it to be understood that he desired no honours, but 
only to testify gratitude. ^ 

As Dr. Jay had been Knighted in the previous April on 
presenting the Address of King's College, it was reasonable for 
Dr. Smith to hope the like honor for his lay companion at this 
scene. 

In later letters Dr. Smith continues his narrative. On 24 
April, 1763, he acknowledges from London the receipt of the 
" Addresses of the Trustees to the Archbishop, Mr. Penn, and 
Dr. Chandler," which " were delivered and kindly received," 
and he proceeds : 

I shall leave this place by the 12th of May at farthest having kept 
back the Collection at York, Liverpool, and some other considerable towns. 
From thence I shall cross over to Ireland and try to get away for America 
by 1st September, for I will by no means take a winter passage. The 
Trustees may depend that I shall leave nothing undone that requires 
my presence and shall rather stay another winter, how irk- 
some and inconvenient soever than desert the good cause which I 
have carried on so far with success. * * * At present our Col- 
lection goes on well in the several parishes of this city and I take the 
usual pains to get proper Preachers. In a most divided kingdom, by a 
happy Fate, the leaders of all sides have been induced to contribute. 
We have in our list the names of the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Bute, 
and Mr Pitt ; and both Universities have been liberal. From Lady 
Curzon, who happened to be one of my audience when I preached at 
Curzon Street Chapel (commonly called Mayfair Chapel), I received one 
Hundred pounds. My friend Mr Dawkins readily gave fifty pounds and 

® Smith, i. 322. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 413 

Col. Barre has been kind in introducing me to sundry persons. But you 
must not think that all this produces very great Sums. 

And he then proceeds to portray a curious picture of the con- 
ditions under which his plans were pursued. 

We are by the Brief entirely prevented from applying to the middling 
rank of people, for if we were to go to them (which indeed is hardly pos- 
sible in any large Degree) none of the Parish Ministers would be at the pains 
to carry round the Brief, and then as to People of Fortune who can afford 
something extraordinary, it is almost impossible to get at them, or to get 
anything from them but by a particular interest, they are so harassed with 
an infinity of Charities; and then when they are disposed to give you must 
call twenty times perhaps before the matter is finished, so that you see the 
Brief must greatly interfere with all our private attempts to collect, not 
only as barring our applications to all that set of people who could be most 
readily got at, but likewise furnishing others with an excuse to put us off 
by saying they have given or will give to the Brief. * * * On sum- 
ming up my Book I find that including Mr Penn's Benefaction I have ^{^1700 
to the credit of our College without the Brief Money our share of which 
will certainly amount to as much more. ■» •» * On Wednesday next 
we are to have a Benefit oratorio at Drury Lane and Mr Beard leaves his 
own House to perform for us at the other, and will give a benefit himself 
next winter, but could not do it now on account of a Week lost to him by the 
late riots at his house, viz: Covent Garden. Mr Garrick has been exceed- 
ingly kind in the matter and gave his house at first asking and was sorry 
that the season was so far advanced and that he had no night disengaged 
sooner. The principal performers, vocal and instrumental, serve Gratis and 
we are favoured by the Boys from the Chapel Royal, and every other mark 
of Distinction. Mr Tyers even put off the opening of Vaux Hall, which was 
fixed on Wednesday next in order to favour us. But after all the season 
is so far advanced and so warm that we doubt it will turn out to no great 
advantage. If the house fill it may be ^200. If not, the expense will be 
certainly cleared. And as Dr Brown kept his performance for this purpose 
agreeable to a promise given me at Newcastle we could not refuse it, at the 
time we could get it on. I enclose you a copy of this performance as also 
Dr Brown' s Sermon, with one by Mr Watson on account of our Brief ; so that 
you see we begin to be taken notice of. There has been many a good 
Sermon on this subject, which the Circular Letter sent with the Brief con- 
tributed much to produce. And indeed I rejoice more in having been the 
writer of that letter than anything I ever wrote, it has been so well 
received. 

The postscript to this letter contains the germ of a future 
controversy. 



414 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

You will observe that this Collection was solicited and given to raise 
a Capital and that the Bishops and commissioners in the Brief have desired 
Mr Penn's assurance as well as mine that it shall be properly laid out as 
such for the Payment of Salaries, a thing we had no difficulty to promise, 
knowing it to be the full intention of the Trustees, for should we spend this 
we could not beg a second time. 

We cannot follow Dr. Smith's steps through his busy 
wanderings in pursuit of his collections; we would find in them a 
most interesting itinerary, and would be afforded a clear picture 
of the customs prevailing in such cases. Nothing was left 
undone by him in his zeal for the furtherance of his mission ; 
untiring in journeyings, in visits, in solicitations, in correspond- 
ence, his energies did not seem to flag. 

On 12 September he writes : 

Jay and I are just setting out from the New York Coffee House and 
hope to be at Holyhead as soon as the Lord Lieutenant, and at Dublin by 
Saturday night. But I do not know that I shall stay more than three or 
four weeks in Ireland, for we are told that in the present situation of that 
Kingdom, we can hope for little but in Dublin, Cork, and Derry. 

But shortly after his arrival in Dublin he was taken 
ill, and the anxieties of his friends were great lest he 
should not recover ; here he was detained in enforced 
idleness for many weeks ; but in convalescence he measur- 
ably resumed his activities, and sought the society of the 
learned in Dublin and those influential in the work of educa- 
tion. Trinity College bestowed a Doctorate upon him, his 
diploma bearing date 9 January, 1764. He was detained here 
until 28 January, when he returned to England, proceeding to 
Stoke, the seat of the Penns, where he remained under the kind 
care of Mr. Penn and his wife for a fortnight, and reached Lon- 
don in the first week of February. 

He wrote to the Trustees on ii February, 1764, a few 
days after his arrival there, an account of his 

most dangerous situation in Dublin, having been ten weeks confined to Bed 
of Fever both Bilious and Nervous which from the beginning had very bad 
symptoms, and for some time brought me to a State in which no hopes were 
entertained of a possibility of recovery. Sir James Jay attended me at 
first, but soon declared the matter to be too serious for him to take the whole 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 415 

on himself; and Dr. Dawson, our proprietor' s Brother in law concurring in 
this, Dr. Barry a Man of the first note in Dublin, Physician general to the 
Army and Professor of Physick in the University, was called, who paid me 
near four score of visits with such care and tenderness as I shall never 
forget. * * ^ Happy was it that I was taken ill in a large city, and 
where I could have such help. ■» * * it was long hanging about me 
before I was taken down, and Dr. Barry said it had been brought on by too 
much anxiety and fatigue. It is not niy Temper to boast of services or value 
myself thereby ; I would rather be more humble on that Account, knowing 
that Posterity will always do justice if the present times were wanting. We 
have indeed had surprising success ; but there have been so many happy 
turns in it, when to all appearances difficulties were insuperable, that a 
kind providence seems to have been with us, and I can claim no more than 
doing my duty and attentively striving to make the most of every Incident 
as it happened. * * * Except by my sickness, I can in truth say, I 
have never lost a day to our Business nor thought of anything else; but 
so much traveling on Horseback, different diet and cookery, different Beds, 
different drink, and being obliged to eat and drink often especially at 
night, when I had no want of either, contributed to bring that most invet- 
erate and obstinate disorder on me; and yet it was not in my power, in 
justice to our cause, to refuse the invitations given me and the Hospitality 
of our Benefactors. * * * But God has been pleased to preserve me 
not only thro' that danger, but also the danger of a most tempestuous pas- 
sage, being in the beginning of the same storm that has done so much 
damage in the channel and frightened the Nation on account of the Prince 
and Princess of Brunswick, who are at last got safe to Holland. I waited 
near ten days at Dublin on account of the weather at Dublin and embarked 
on a most flattering evening with a fair Gale, but the scene was soon 
changed. However, next day about ten in the morning and with much 
difficulty, we got in. 

One of the last letters to the Trustees written by him prior 
to his illness, already quoted from, again enlarged upon the 
necessity of capitalising the collections made under the Brief, 
for a minute is made at their meeting of 8 November, namely : 

Several letters received from Dr. Smith were read the substance of 
all which was contained in one of 12 September, and as it appeared by 
these Letters that the Commissioners under the Royal Brief required some 
Assurances from the Trustees of the Academy that the Money collected 
should be laid out on Land security and presented as a perpetual Fund for 
the College, the President was desired to write the necessary Letters and 
to consult with Mr Chew and Mr Shippen thereupon. [Dr Smith had 
said,] when you draw, it is expected that you will enable me to satisfy the 



4i6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Commissioners how you are laying out the Money and on what securities 
and that it will be preserved as a Capital. I have often been interrogated 
on these Heads and if Mr Penn had not kindly promised for you in all 
these points, we should not have got our Money so fast jnto our hands. 
These questions you will not think impertinent from Men of high rank 
whose countenance has procured us this great collection and whom the 
King has made Trustees in the appropriation of the Money to the uses for 
which it was given, viz: as a Capital towards bringing us ^400 per annum, 
as the Brief of my commission sets forth. This you will not think any 
hard request. Mr Penn, Mr Allen, and every body think we are bound to 
keep it as a Capital and ought to do it even if we had not asked for it as 
such. I have wrote you often on this head, and I wonder you have not 
enabled me to say what is proper on your behalf. I have a difficult part to 
act between you and those under whom I act here. They desire to inter- 
meddle no further, than to be ascertained how the money here committed 
to them, is laid out with you, and that it will be made a lasting Capital, 
They would scorn, even if they could, to abridge us of one single right 
which we hold under our Charter, and after the Money is remitted, and 
they assured that it is laid out to its true uses, they will perhaps never 
inquire more after us. For my part, whatever silly Notions may enter 
jealous minds, I would sooner have come to you without a shilling than 
have been subjected to any terms inconsistent with our present liberal 
plan. You may see this by my anxiety to remit such large sums, without 
a single condition, but enabling us to shew the Commissioners of the Brief 
and the good people of England that their cash is faithfully remitted and 
on undoubted security (which I presume must be land security) to answer 
the purposes for which we are entrusted with it. 

There were reasons, undoubtedly, for this urgency, which 
we cannot now fathom ; whether the desires of the Trustees 
to realize on the Perkasie gift of Mr. Penn had led him to doubt 
their wisdom while at the same time he was wanting in confi- 
dence as to the stability of their purposes, we cannot say. Cer- 
tain it is that the occasion of Dr. Smith's visit was the wish to 
complete their new buildings, though its cause lay deeper than 
that, namely, in the annually diminishing resources of the insti- 
tution. An echo of this distrust may have found lodgment in 
Dr. Smith's mind as well, as Dr. Franklin was now at home, 
and his influence might be again felt among the Trustees and 
some scheme might be formulated foreign to his own views of 
the government of the College. Whatever may have been the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 417 

force of this urgency among the contributors generally, it will 
be found in the sequel that the only official request made of the 
Trustees by their friends the Commissioners was an assurance 
that the institution should forever be carried on in the same 
"hberal plan " as it had been framed in. 

Dr. Peters, on behalf of the Trustees, responded to this 
warm appeal of Dr. Smith with a degree of spirit which testified 
to their sense of being misapprehended if not mistrusted, and 
w^rote him 12 November, 1763 : 

The Trustees conceived that the assurances they gave the pubHck in 
your commission under their Seal, ' that whatever should be contributed to 
the good end therein set forth should be faithfully applied upon the same 
liberal and pious plan wherein the College was first founded ' would have 
satisfied the Commissioners appointed by the King, so that they might 
safely pay to you the Money collected to be remitted to us ; otherwise we 
would have given you before this fresh assurances and as strong as could 
be made. But as you inform us that further assurances are expected, I 
am now requested and authorized by the Trustees to let you know that all 
the money drawn for which is ^1500 sterling was forthwith let out upon an 
interest of 6 p ct on a double security, that is, on a Mortgage of Lands 
accompanied with a Bond and Judgment from the Mortgagor which is the 
very best security that can be devised, being the same that the Trustees of 
the General Loan Office of this province take for the monies lent by them 
to private Borrowers, and that the same method will be observed punctually 
and faithfully with respect to every sum that shall come into their hands 
out of the Monies collected and paid to you for the use of their College. 
* * * Lest you should be absent or set out for America, I have said 
as much as this in my Letters to the Archbishop of Canterbury and to 
Mr Penn, and as the latter has a perfect knowledge of the Trustees, their 
characters and their whole Conduct in the Management of their Trust, we 
hope there will be no hesitation in ordering the payment of the monies 
collected to be made to you. ^° 



^^ When just prior to Dr. Smith's leaving England on his return home, five of 
the Commissioners under the Brief, namely the Archbishops of Canterbury and 
York, the Bishop of Winchester, Dr. Chandler, and Thomas Penn, gave Dr. Smith 
their power of attorney dated 13 April, 1764, "to see and take care in conjunction 
with the Trustees, that the share of the Collection that has arisen or may arise to the 
same be laid out upon sufficient security ; and preserved as a Capital to produce 
an Annual Revenue for the Benefit of the said Seminary agreeable to the meaning 
of the said Letters Patent and our express Intention in this our Letter of Attorney 
declared" — And requiring him "to transmit them an account properly vouched and 
certified of the manner in which the whole monies * * * * is disposed or 
laid out * * with an account of the Securities taken and the amount of the 
annual Revenue which the monies so laid out may produce." 



4i8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

In his letter of 1 1 February, 1764, the Provost gave a brief 
summary of the results of the collection. 

I can now assure you that our share (including the Proprietors ^500) 
will amount to Six thousand pounds nearly and clear of all expenses. 
This tells well and will be a noble sum in your Currency. But you will 
not let your Draughts from the beginning exceed four thousand pounds, 
till I see you or send further advice, for I must return to Stratford before I 
embark and one of the last things I do. There are 9600] Briefs come in 
and 1500 not come in, but the greatest part will be ready by the ist March 
and then I go to make a settlement with them. * * * I begin next 
week to publish a List of the Whole Collection that every Contributor may 
see the exactness of the Account. * * * I find the Dissenters have not 
contributed so much as I hoped ; but many others have far exceeded all 
hopes . The Quakers have returned all their Briefs blank. But I do not 
find that they have tried much to dissuade others from giving, and so far 
we are obliged to them. 

His last letter, dated 10 March, is submitted to the Trustees 
at their Meeting of 8 May. 

Since I came to London from Ireland, I began to recover my usual 
strength, have preached on the Brief in three Capital Churches where it 
had been delayed for that purpose, viz : St. Mary, White Chapel, St 
George the Martyr, and Lambeth Church ; I have made great Collections 
in the Parishes belonging to them, and do not doubt if I could stay a 
Month or two longer I might add at least a thousand Pounds more to the 
Collection, as I have raised near one hundred Pounds one Week with 
another since my return to London, part of which was on the Brief, and 
Part in private Collections. But I am determined to embark for Philadel- 
phia the end of March, as I am thoroughly tired out, and long earnestly 
to be with my Family, and Mr Peters is urgent for my return that he himself 
might embark for Liverpool to see his Relatives. There are only about 
seven or eight parishes now in London, where the Brief has not been 
collected, and I have engaged some of my friends to preach in them, and 
to give all possible attention to the Collection. 

That his work had been well done and his labors constant 
are testified to bythe results already portrayed, and there needs not 
the confirmation of his English supporters. Thomas Penn writes 
him, 9 April, 1764, "the great zeal with which you have sol- 
licited the Contributions for the Benefit of the College of Phila- 
delphia must entitle you to the Regard and Esteem of every 
Person that wishes well to the Province of Pennsylvania," and 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 419 

assuring him of his friendship on all occasions, asks him to accept 
as a Token his Draft on his Banker for fifty pounds. In his prompt 
acknowledgment of the Proprietary's substantial remembrance, 
he covers also his allegiance to the Proprietary interests in his 
far-off home : 

please to accept my assurances, that so far as my Judgment or Abilities can 
carry me, you shall ever find me, in all Prudence, earnest to promote the 
best interests of the Country with which you are so closely connected, and 
which I know you and your Family will always consider as inseparable 
from your own interests. 

Archbishop Seeker writes to Dr. Peters on 1 3 April : 

I cannot let Dr Smith go without sending you a line by him. Provi- 
dence has blessed our Endeavors here, for the Benefit of his College, much 
beyond my expectation. And indeed his Abilities and Diligence have 
been the chief Instruments of the Success. Dissenters have contributed 
laudably ; but the Members of the Church of England, and particularly 
the Clergy, have been proportionately more liberal. Doubtless they were 
induced to it by the Allegation in the Brief, that this Seminary, and that of 
New York, would be extremely useful in educating Missionaries to serve 
the Society for propagating the Gospel. And therefore I hope the Trustees 
of the College of Philadelphia will be careful to make Provision, that all 
such as are designed for Clergymen of our Church shall be instructed by a 
Professor of Divinity who is a Member of our Church ; which may surely 
be done without giving any offense to Persons of other Denominations ; a 
Fault that by all means should be studiously avoided ; as I doubt not, 
through your Prudence, it may and will. And with due Precaution, the 
Thing is necessary to be done. 

And Dr. Chandler writes to Dr. Peters : 

The Doctor has been indefatigable in his Endeavours to serve the 
Philadelphia College and greatly successful. He well deserves the sin- 
cerest thanks of all the Trustees, of the several Professors and Masters, and 
all who wish well to the College, and indeed, in general, of all the Friends 
of Knowledge and Learning. ^^ 

Sir James Jay had been left in Ireland by Dr. Smith, and 
the latter had given settlement of their joint accounts in the hands 
of Mr. Penn ; but it was not until August of that year that Mr. 
Penn, as representative of Dr. Smith, Sir James Jay for King's 



11 Smith, i. 351, 52,54. 



420 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

College, and Mr. Barlow Trecothick, as a Friend to both Colleges, 
met for the purpose of settling the accounts, which being passed 
upon by each one, Mr. Trecothick was entrusted with preparing 
the final account. Sir James Jay's unhappy controversy with 
his College which grew out of the accounting of his affairs, led 
to the publication of his Letter to the Governors of tJie College of 
New York, 1771, before referred to. This grew, apparently, 
from anticipating his collections, and drawing for too great an 
amount. A reference to this draft by Dr. Smith in his letter of 
II February, 1764, properly finds record here: 

I thought it best the moment I was able to come to look after our 
Business in England, and to leave Jay in Ireland, who does not propose so 
speedy a return to America as is necessary for me. And indeed I got to 
England just Time enough to save for New York the damages on ^2500 
protested bills ; for they had drawn for_^4ooo at once, and Mr Drummond 
had but ^1500, and could not get more as the power of settling with the 
Brief gatherers was in Jay and me. They were too rash in their Draught 
at New York ; but, however, out of their own share the whole ^4000 is 
paid and ^500 left over with Mr Drummond, with whom I have just been. 



LXVII. 

Finally, Provost Smith bade Adieu to his friends in Eng- 
land, and embarking from Falmouth on 23 April in the Earl of 
Halifax "^dickeX., reached New York,^on 5 June, and immediately 
set out for Philadelphia which after a rapid journey for those 
days he reached the next evening. The Pennsylvania Gazette of 
16 June, chronicled his arrival and reception on 14 June. 

Late on Wednesday Evening the 6th Inst, the Rev' d Doctor Smith, 
Provost of the College of this city, arrived in perfect health, having come 
in the Halifax packet, in about six weeks from Falmouth, The Day follow- 
ing, the Professors of the Colleges in their proper Habits, and many of the 
principal gentlemen of the city, gave him a most cordial welcome at his 



"^ New York Metrury, ii June, 1 764. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 421 

House; and on Tuesday last the Trustees of the College received him at 
the College, and, after perusing the Papers and Accounts which he laid 
before them, they did by the Mouth of their President return him their 
unanimous Thanks, for the great Zeal, Ability, and Address, which he hath 
shown in the Management of the Collection, carried on in conjunction with 
Sir James Jay, for this College, and that of New York; by Means of which, 
about Thirteen Thousand Pounds Sterling will come clearly to be divided 
between the two Seminaries .^ 

But the Trustees' Minutes of 12 June give a more stately 
account of their reception of him. Messrs. Peters, Hamilton, Coxe, 
Duche, Redman, Edward Shippen, Coleman, Turner, Phineas and 
Thomas Bond, Lardner, Strettell, Stedman, White, Willing, and 
Cadwalader, met according to notice and Dr. Smith 

being introduced by the President, he was most affectionately received by 
all the members of the Board, who expressed great satisfaction on seeing 
him safely returned and perfectly recovered from the dangerous Sickness 
into which he had fallen in the City of Dublin. After which kind saluta- 
tions he produced the State of the Collection as it stood at the time of his 
Departure from England, properly vouched by the Hon'ble Thomas Penn, 
Esqr and Mr. Alderman Trecothicke who have kindly accepted a Power of 
Attorney from the Commissioners named in the Royal Brief, to examine, 
settle and close the whole Collection as soon as the remainder of the Briefs 
can be returned into the proper office, there being about thirteen hundred 
outstanding when Dr. Smith came away, and about nine thousand seven 
hundred returned. Dr. Smith then delivered a joint Letter from the Pro- 
prietors to the Trustees, and a separate Letter to them from the Hon'ble 
Thomas Penn, Esq, after which he withdrew. Being soon afterwards 
called in, the President in the Name and by the order of the Trustees 
voted him their unanimous Thanks in the warmest and most affectionate 
Manner for the great Zeal, Diligence, AbiUty and Address which he had 
shown in the Management of this Collection, for which all the Friends of 
this Institution as well as of Learning in General were under the greatest 
obligations to him. 



^The total results as recited in the account entered in the Minutes of 3 May, 
1765, are namely: 

One half of the Brief Money, ^4800. 

One half private Collections preceding 22 June, 1762, 11 36. 10.6 

Royal Bounty, . 200. 

Proprietary Bounty, 500. 

Collected before the Scheme for New York was united, 284.17. 



6921. 7.6 
which at current rate of exchange 72^ per cent, would bring in Pennsylvania 
Currency, £11. 939.6. S- 



42 2 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

To this the Provost made a feehng and appropriate reply, 
closing with the statement 

that the Success had far exceeded anything that could be reasonably expected, 
and would no doubt lead all concerned to be truly thankful to our Bene- 
factors, and earnestly desirous to manage their Bounty so as most effectu- 
ally to answer their pious Intentions. 

Dr. Peters then read the letter of Dr. Chandler to him of 
12 April, already quoted from, and as it 

referred to another drawn up by the Archbishop of Canterbury and him- 
self. Dr. Smith produced the same, and Mr. Stedman, Mr. Shippen, Mr. 
Duche and Dr. Redman were appointed a Committee together with the Pro- 
vost, to consider the said two letters together, with those from the Propri- 
etors, and to draw up proper addresses and answers to them against Thurs- 
day next. 

Thanks were ordered to be conveyed to Mr. Trecothick 
for his great kindness during the whole Collection and also to 
Messrs. David Barclay and Sons for their kindness ; and before 
closing 

it was recommended to the Trustees to consider against next Meeting in 
what Manner they might best shew their Regard to Dr. Smith, increase his 
support, and put him on as respectable a Footing as possible in the Insti- 
tution. 

And at the following meeting this regard was testified by allow- 
ing him 

One Hundred Pounds per annum as a Consideration for those Services, 
which sum is not to be considered as an addition to the Salary of Provost, 
but solely as a Reward for Dr. Smith's personal services in England. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 423 
LXVIII. 

The meeting of 14 June, 1764, became a historic one, and 
marks an era in the life of the College of standing importance, 
although fifteen years later that life was for awhile stricken down 
by its enemies, who turned to the record of this meeting for false 
testimony whereon to formulate their charges which brought 
about the abrogation of the existing charter. Let us first recite 
the significant letter jointly signed by Archbishop Seeker, the 
brothers Penn, and Dr. Chandler, of which Dr. Smith was the 
bearer. The causes which led to this historic document are 
detailed by Dr. Chandler in his letter to Dr. Peters of 12 April, 
and display the kindly and worthy motives which prompted it. 
He writes : 

As there have been some Suspicions entertained on both sides that 
the present Constitution of it may be altered, and the Professors and Mas- 
ters, now of difTerent Denominations, in Time may all be of one prevail- 
ing Denomination to the exclusion of those of the other, by the Art and 
Power of the prevailing party ; and as the Doctor [Smith] justly appre- 
hended this would be contrary to the intention of those who have con- 
tributed towards the Support of the College (who have been of all parties 
amongst us) and inconsistent with the Prosperity of the Institution itself, 
by his Desire, I waited, Monday last, on the good Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, where, with the Doctor, we freely debated this affair for an Hour 
together. His Grace, a friend to Liberty, and highly approving the pres- 
ent Plan on which the College is established, gave his Opinion that this 
Plan should be preserved without alteration. I had the Honor entirely 
to agree with the ArchbP , and, on Dr. Smith' s proposing to him that a 
Letter to the Trustees representing our Judgment in this affair, and signed 
by both of us, might be of some Weight to keep Things on their present 
Footing and prevent all future Jealousies on either side, he readily assented 
to it. * * * As my Judgment is supported by that of so worthy a 
Prelate, and as I apprehend by the Reason of the Thing itself, I hope it 
will, as his Judgment, have the good effect of preventing all future jeal- 
ousies, and of establishing Peace and Harmony amongst all the worthy 
Professors, and of promoting Religion, Learning and Liberty, which I pray 
God may long continue to flourish in that Seminary. 

The following letter, it will be seen, was joined in by the Pro- 
prietaries, and approved by one of the most influential Trustees, 
then in London, Chief Justice Allen. 



424 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

To the Trustees of the College and Academy of Philadelphia 

Gentlemen 

We cannot omit the opportunity which Doctr Smith's return to 
Philadelphia gives us of congratulating you on the great success of the 
Collection which he came to pursue and of acknowledging your obliging 
Addresses of Thanks to us for the Share we had in recommending and 
encouraging this Design. Such a mark of your Attention to us will, we 
doubt not, excuse our hinting to you what we think may be further neces- 
sary to a due Improvement of this Collection, and the future Prosperity 
of the Institution under your care. 

This Institution you have professed to have been originally founded 
and hitherto carried on for the general Benefit of a mixed Body of People. 
In his Majesty's Royal Brief, it is represented as a Seminary that would be 
of great use " for raising up able Instructors and Teachers, as well for the 
Service of the Society for propagating the Gospel in foreign Parts, as for 
other Protestant Denominations in the Colonies." 

At the time of granting this Collection, which was sollicited by the 
Provost, who is a Clergyman of the Church of the England, it was known 
that there were united with him a Vice Provost who is a Presbyterian, and 
a principal Professor of the Baptist Persuasion, with sundry inferior Pro- 
fessors and Tutors, all carrying on the Education of Youth with great Har- 
mony ; and People of various Denominations have hereupon contributed 
liberally and freely. 

But jealousies now arising lest this Foundation should afterwards be nar- 
rowed, and some Party endeavor to exclude the Rest, or put them on a worse 
Footing than they have been from the Beginning, or were at the Time of this 
Collection, which might not only be deemed unjust in itself, but might like- 
wise be productive of Contentions unfriendly to Learning and hurtful to 
Religion ; we would therefore recommend it to you, to make some funda- 
mental Rule or Declaration to prevent Inconveniences of this Kind ; in 
doing of which, the more closely you keep in View the Plan on which the 
Seminary was at the Time of obtaining the Royal Brief, and on which it 
has been carried on from the Beginning, so much the less Cause we think 
you will give for any Party to be dissatisfied. 

Wishing continual Prosperity and Peace to the Institution, We are, 

with great Regard, 

Gentlemen 

Your faithful 

Friends and Servants 
London Tho. Cant. 

9 April, 1764 Tho. & Rich^ Penn 

I as a Trustee approve Sam. Chandler, 

of this Letter. Wit- 
ness my Hand, 

Will. Allen 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 425 

Wherein lay this distrust that the Trustees would possibly 
narrow the scheme of the College cannot now well be traced. 
King's College was admittedly a Church of England Institution, 
and was the recipient of the noble bounty of Trinity Church, 
which to secure to the College the President of its choice elected 
Dr. Johnson an assistant Minister of the Parish in order to 
assure him a living. It appealed under the Royal Brief to the 
English people with force equal to that exerted by the Phila- 
delphia College, though making no pretentions to that " liberal 
plan" claimed by the latter at its origin. But the latter having 
now renewed this claim, to meet possibly the desires of Dr. Chand- 
ler and his friends, urgency was now exerted on the Trustees to 
ofBcially renew the assurance of it. The President of the Board was 
now Rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, the Provost the 
most eminent preacher and orator in the Province, and the more 
influential Trustees were members of the Church of England. 
These latter from the outset had in fact the same prevailing 
church membership, but under Franklin's leading impulse this 
was not felt, they having been united by him to aid the new 
academy from their mercantile and personal influence, and in no 
wise because of their church membership. But the gradual 
withdrawal of Franklin's concerns in the Seminary, and the 
prevailing influence of Peters, Smith and Duche,^ three Church 
of England clergymen, especially as the second of these was 
politically the champion of that church's interest in the 
Province, would suffice to give color to any accusations of the 
kind which might be raised against it. From Franklin's present 
standpoint, it must have appeared to be narrowing, and his fears 
would be confirmed when he saw his college uniting with a 
Church of England college in a general collection. If this view 
was accepted by him before his leaving England, he might 
reasonably give some expression to it, for he was without the 
confidence of Dr. Smith, whose estrangement might only serve 



^" Mr. Stedman and Mr. Duch6 are both extremely kind and give me all the 
Assistance in their power with the utmost assiduity and readiness in conducting the 
Academy Business." Dr. Peters to Dr. Smith. 28 May, 1763. Penna. Magazine, x. 
352. 



426 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

to strengthen this view. That some of the Professors and 
Tutors were other religionists than Churchmen, was rather the 
result perhaps of circumstances than of intention, and this may- 
have been known to Franklin. Dr. Peters in writing to Dr. 
Smith his letter of 28 May, 1763, bewails this : 

I blush to tell you that we have not one church Tutor in all our 
Academy. There is not a Churchman upon the Continent as I can hear 
of that is fit to make a Tutor ; and it is from downright necessity that we 
are obliged to take such as offer. '^ 

This fear or mistrust of the Trustees would have but little 
weight as a matter of mere record in the life of the College, but 
as grave issues a few years subsequently were evolved from 
this disputed point, this seems the place to look for the seeds 
which were claimed to bear the bitter fruit of those later years. 
The wise and capable Dr. Chandler could not have succeeded 
in winning Archbishop Seeker's cooperation in the present 
appeal to the Trustees, had he not satisfied him that good reasons 
prevailed to seek an official utterance from the Trustees which 
would allay this doubt. Whatever may have been at that time 
the prevailing circumstances which fostered this doubt as to the 
integrity of the appeal of the Trustees on their original "liberal 
plan," we cannot now well define them, but we must admit their 
credible existence, and the readiness of the Trustees to 
appreciate the point and their promptness to give a responsive 
assurance of their integrity in this regard, is evidenced by their 
immediate action upon the joint letter to them from their friends. 
And before adjournment at this important meeting of 14 June, 
they adopted the following Declaration : 

The Trustees being ever desirous to promote the Peace and Pros, 
perity of this Seminary, and to give Satisfaction to all its worthy Bene- 
factors, have taken the above Letter into their serious Consideration, and 
perfectly approving the Sentiments therein contained, do order the same to 
be inserted in their Books, that it may remain perpetually declaratory of 
the present wide and excellent Plan of this Institution, which hath not only 
met with the approbation of the great and worthy Personages above men- 
tioned, but even the Royal Sanction of his Majesty himself. They further 



' Penna, Magazine x. 352. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 427 

declare that they will keep this Plan closely in their View, and use their 
utmost Endeavours that the same be not narrowed nor the Members of the 
Church of England or those dissenting from them (in any future Election to 
the principal offices mentioned in the aforesaid letter) be put on any worse 
Footing in this Seminary than they were at the Time of obtaining the 
Royal Brief. They subscribe this with their names and ordain that the 
same be read and subscribed by every new Trustee that shall hereafter be 
elected before he takes his Seat at the Board. 

Of the Twenty-four Trustees now serving, twenty promptly 
signed the same on the Minute Book, including Franklin, 
though he and Dr. Shippen and Mr. Chew did not attend this 
meeting or that of 12 June called to receive the Provost^ Of 
the other four, Mr. Inglis who was yet abroad in June, signed 
on II September; Chief Justice Allen was also abroad ; Mr. 
Elliot had removed to New York, and his place was shortly 
declared vacant ; and Mr. Syng's name also does not appear. 

This weighty matter thus duly recorded, letters to their 
kind friends were read, approved, and ordered to be entered on 
the minutes. To the Archbishop they say : 

Whatever comes recommended to us by the names of Personages to 
whom we are under so many obligations, cannot fail of having its due 
Weight with us, more especially as it is conformable to that generous plan 
which we have always pursued in this Seminary ; and therefore we found 



* Dr. Shippen's attendance at the meetings about this time were infrequent. 
But the absence of Mr. Chew may not have been without design, if we accept a 
statement regarding hira in Dr. Peter's letter to Dr. Smith of 28 May, 1763: "It 
gives your Friends here a great deal of concern that you have had so much trouble in 
defending yourself against what was said to your prejudice about Mr. Beaty's Collec- 
tion. The noise as I wrote you, was very strong at first, but it has subsided for some 
time. From your first Letters we all saw the thing in its true light. * * * I 
gave Dr. Alison the printed Letter with your Defence certified by Mr. Penn and Dr. 
Chandler and desired him to shew it to his Brethren. This I did as soon as the first 
of them arrived. * * * I showed it likewise to Mr Allen and left it with him at 
his own request, and I hope at meeting you will be able to remove any unfavorable 
Impressions that may still remain with him towards you. I could find by his discourse 
that he had a great sense of the very great services you was doing for us, and make 
no doubt, but as both he and you are very open on all occasions, everything will be 
discussed and settled between you to mutual satisfaction. * * * I have had 
much discourse [with] Mr. Chew and at times with the Governor [Hamilton] and 
from both I learn that the same unfavorable Impressions conceived of you were not 
worn off yet your extraordinary merit and success were amply acknowledged and I 
am sure they will on your arrival make you quite sensible that they are real friends 
of the Institution, and therefore cannot but give you a mighty hearty welcome 
and act towards you a just and kind Part. God restore you to us in good health, 
and then I think you will find things much better than you can imagine, and we shall 
be able to put all things on a good footing.'' Pennsylvania Magazine, x 351. 



428 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

no Difficulty in making and entering on our Books a fundamental Declara- 
tion of this Plan as proposed to us, a Copy of which is hereunto annexed 
under our Seal. 

But the next paragraph appears to show their fear that the 
Archbishop might misconstrue their expression, " that the 
members of the Church of England or those dissenting from 
them be not put on any worse footing " than before : 

After the great Countenance shewn to this Seminary by our gracious 
Sovereign and by our National Church over which your Grace presides, we 
should hold ourselves inexcusable if, by any Act of ours, we should endeavor 
to put the Interest of that Church on any worse Footing in the said Semi- 
nary than it was at the Time of obtaining so great Favors. On the contrary 
we think it our Duty to shew every mark of our Regard to that Church, so 
far as is consistent with our Faith pledged to other Religious Denomina- 
tions and that Plan of Christian Liberty to which we know your Grace is a 
warm Friend. 

To Dr. Chandler they write : 

You may be well assured that we shall be ever Zealous to preserve 
that Plan of Christian Liberty on which it is the Glory of this Institution to be 
founded ; and at the same time that we shew all due Regard to our national 
Church, we shall never violate our Faith pledged to other religious Denomi- 
nations. 

To the Proprietaries they also write their acknowledgments, 
and say : 

What comes recommended to us by Personages to whom we owe so 
many obligations, could not fail to have its due Weight with us, more 
especially as it is conformable to that generous Plan which we have always 
pursued in this Seminary ; and therefore we found no Difficulty in making 
and entering into our Books a fundamental iDeclaration of this Plan, as 
proposed to us. 

The carefulness with which the Trustees reiterated their 
constant maintenance of the original plan of the Institution, and 
the grace with which they now acceded to a request from high 
quarters to renew assurances to that effect, would seem to 
imply they had knowledge that there was some ground for the 
mistrust held by their friends, otherwise they would have coupled 
to their reiteration some denial of, perhaps resentment at, the 
serious implications involved in the request. The Trustees had 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 429 

replied through Dr. Peters with becoming spirit to the equally 
serious intimations that the funds arising from the collections 
might not meet with proper investments, but there is a lack of 
this spirit underthe present implications. But it is only surmise, 
and not evidence, that -their good friends in England had some 
grounds for their kind suggestions and inquiries. 

The Trustees did not adjourn this important meeting of 14 
June until they had appointed " Dr. Smith their Secretary, to 
take charge of their Minutes and Proceedings and to give his 
assistance to the Treasurer whenever it may be required ; which 
services he is to perform without any further consideration than 
the said additional sum of One Hundred Pounds per annum " 
already noted. From this time greater care is preserved, and 
more detail observed in the Minutes of the Trustees, for the 
excellent workmanship and industry of Dr. Smith were observed 
in this minor office as in all his engagements. 



430 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 



LXIX. 

The worthy and faithful President, who had been elected 
Rector of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's 
on 6 December, 1762, to succeed Dr. Jenney, whose funeral 
sermon Dr. Smith had preached on the eve of his sailing a twelve- 
month before, had been himself desirous of going abroad, and 
indeed it was subsequently found requisite that he should visit 
England to receive a license in due form from the Bishop of 
London in person. He had assisted the Rector of the Church, 
the Rev. Archibald Cummings for a few months in 1736, but 
the present election was his first cure and he entered on his 
duties at once, but he felt indisposed to go abroad and leave the 
young College, for there was no one among the Trustees — 
unless it were young Duche — who would give it that lively 
management in the absence of the Provost that he could. He 
writes to Dr. Smith on 28 May, 1763 : 

As I have reason to think you will have been at Liverpool, you will 
have satisfied my sister that it is not possible for me to come over this year. 
* * * You wrote in so affecting a manner on this subject that I am 
forced tho' with reluctance to postpone my voyage till your return. ^ [He now 
immediately upon the Provost's return] informs the Board that he was to 
embark for England in a few Days to visit his Relations, and in Hopes to 
benefit his Health. * * * The Trustees, by one of their Members 
returned him their unanimous Thanks for his long and faithful Services to 
the Institution, and on his Resignation of the office of President, the 
Hon'ble James Hamilton was unanimously elected President, which he was 
pleased to accept. 

Dr. Peters " took an affectionate leave of his congregations 
at Christ Church on Sunday [17th June] and on Monday morn- 
ing set out for New Castle, in order to embark for England ; " ^ 
he remained abroad eighteen months, returning home in the 
Christmas holidays of 1765 ;^ and his attendance at the meeting 
of 14 January, 1 766, testified to the prompt resumption of his 
share in the College trust. 



"^ Penna. Magazine, x. 352. 

^ Penna. GazeUe, 20 June, 1764. ^ Ibid, 2 January, 1766. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 43 1 

A commencement for the year 1764 was in preparation, 
but at the meeting of 13 March, Dr. Peters 

acquaints the Trustees that he had received a letter from Dr Smith wherein 
he desired that the time of the ensuing Commencement might be left open 
till his arrival, as it would then be necessary to make a publick mention of 
the generous donations made to the Academy and other distinguishing 
marks of respect shewed the Institution in the course of his present appli- 
cations; and agreeable to his request it was Resolved that no time should 
be fixed for the Commencement, but that the Candidates should be exam- 
ined by such of the Trustees as would attend on the 28th of this month, 
and if they should be found well qualified that they then should be exam- 
ined in publick on the 6th of April, of which last examination, notice is to 
be inserted in the Gazette as usual. * 

But the Provost's departure from England was delayed, with 
the result that no order was taken for the annual commence- 
ment ; and we have no means of knowing who were the suc- 
cessful candidates in 1764 who took their degrees at the 
commencement of 1765. 



*The Penna. Gazette, 5 April, 1764. 



432 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXX. 

The Rev. George Whitefield favored Philadelphia with 
another of his visits in 1764,^ and on 9 October the Trustees 
appointed "Dr. Redman, Mr. Duche, and the Provost to wait 
on him and to request in Behalf of the Trustees that before his 
Departure from this City he would oblige the Institution with a 
sermon for the Benefit of the Charity Children educated in it," 
which he did on the 17th in the College Hall, "an excellent 
sermon from St. Matthew vi. 10, Thy Kingdom come. He 
concluded with a most fervent and Christian exhortation to the 
Youth of the Institution ; and the Collection at the doors 
amounted to one Hundred and Five pounds."^ Whitefield 
speaks of this as "one of the best regulated institutions in the 
world ;" and in describing this service writes : 

Dr. Smith read prayers for me; both the present and the late Gov- 
ernor, with the head gentlemen of the city were present; and cordial thanks 
were sent to me from all the trustees, for speaking for the children, and 
countenancing the institution.^ 

Mr. Whitefield had attended and preached at the Commence- 
ment of the College of New Jersey at Princeton on 26 
September.* 

But the Kingdom of Peace, which Whitefield preached in 
October, did not spare the Province a strife of politics which 
was the severest experienced by its citizens for many years. 
Dr. Smith's return home was in the midst of this ferment, and as 
the two foremost men in the College annals became prominent 
on opposite sides, we must pause in the recital of these to 
take a view of the civil situation surrounding its academic 
halls. But we must go back a twelvemonth to obtain the 
key to the situation. The return of peace, that of 1763, 



^ Dr. Franklin writes him 19 June, 1764, " We hope you will not be deterred 
from writing your friends here, by the bugbear Boston account of the unhealthiness 
of Philadelphia." Bigelow iii. 251. 

"^ Penna. Gazette, 18 October, 1764. 

'Tyerman's Lifen. ^"j-j. 

* Fefina. Gazette, li October, 1764. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 433 

brought to a close the active military work of the colonies, and 
the frontiersmen were now more exposed to marauding Indians, 
who, having tasted war under the influence of the French intrigues, 
nourished memories of hatred against the English settlers and 
sought in some cases to avenge themselves for past injuries. 
The whites dreamed of a war of extermination of the Indians, 
and awoke to the reality of a murder of a band of peaceful 
Indians who had for two generations dwelt in Lancaster county 
in amity with all their neighbors, the oldest of them being 
Shehaes, who had assisted at Penn's second treaty in 1701 and 
had ever since continued a faithful and affectionate friend 
to the English. In the middle of December, 1763, a body of 
less than sixty men from Paxtang Township, in that county, 
marched one night and surrounded their settlement in Cones- 
toga Manor, and massacred without note of warning the few 
they there found, for the most happened to be away from home 
at the moment. These latter, hearing of this cruel work, sought 
refuge in Lancaster and were by their friends secured in the jail 
to spare them from attack of the same party, who became known 
as the Paxton Boys. News of the massacre of the 14 December 
was speedily carried to Philadelphia, and produced intense 
indignation ; the Governor issued his proclamation calling upon 
all officers to make diligent search for the murderers. But 
unheeding this, and undaunted by the shame and cruelty of 
their proceeding, they came to Lancaster where they heard the 
remaining villagers were in hiding, and on the second day after 
Christmas, appeared in force, and broke into the jail, and mur- 
dered all the Indians they there found. Governor Penn issued 
a second proclamation on 2 January, 1764. Franklin wrote his 
well-known Narrative of the late Massacres in Lancaster County 
of a number of hidians, friends of this province, appealing to the 
people by every instinct of mercy and justice to stand by the 
honor of the government and protect peaceable citizens, even 
though they might be Indians whom they were asked to shield 
from unprovoked slaughter. He says : 

Let us rouse ourselves, for shame, and redeem the honor of our 
province from the contempt of its neighbors; let all good men join heartily 



434 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

and unanimously in support of the laws, and in strengthening the hands of 
government, that justice may be done, the wicked punished, and the inno- 
cent protected; otherwise we can, as a people, expect no blessing from 
Heaven ; there will be no security for our persons or properties ; anarchy 
and confusion will prevail over all; and violence without judgment dispose 
of everything. * * * i shall conclude with observing, that cowards 
can handle arms, can strike where they are sure to meet with no return, 
can wound, mangle and murder; but it belongs to brave men to spare and 
protect; for, as the poet says, 

' Mercy still sways the brave. ' 

But neither the fulminations of the authorities, nor the elo- 
quence of the foremost citizen of the province had weight with 
these savages of a whiter hue. Their thirst for Indian bloodied 
them to search for wider streams wherein to quench it. Many- 
friendly Indians in the province, to the number of one hundred 
and forty, some of them Christians under Moravian teachings, at 
once sought protection among their Philadelphia friends, where 
they found a place of refuge on Providence Island in the Dela- 
ware. The Paxton Boys marched towards Philadelphia in swel- 
ling numbers. The Indians were now brought into the city and 
secured in the barracks. Franklin, at the request of the Gover- 
nor, organized a military association as he had done before under 
the fears of foreign invasion, and nine companies were formed. 
The Paxton boys had marched as far as Germantown, where 
they paused, hearing of the Indians' protection and the prepara- 
tions for their armed defence : happily, a fatal pause to their 
schemes. Governor Penn deputed Franklin with other citizens 
to go out and meet them, among these being his fellow Trustees 
Dr. Peters, Thomas Willing and Benjamin Chew. But an influ- 
ential element in the province exhibited some sympathy v/iththe 
cry of " Down with the Indians," and beyond the quiet disper- 
sion of these marauders, unharmed by the law, nothing was 
accomplished ; and the month of February witnessed the cessa- 
tion of the excitement and the assured safety of the Indians. 
Their enemies alleged that the friendship of these Indians was 
deceitful, that they gave encouragement to traitors, even if they 
did not harbor them ; that retaliation was justifiable ; and their 
war was against them as a nation, of which every tribe and indi- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 435 

vidual formed a part. Indeed, religious enthusiasm suggested, as 
they were heathen, there was a divine command to exterminate 
them. Even the mild John Ewing, the divine who was filling 
Provost Smith's chair in his absence wrote to his young friend 
Joseph Reed then in London, 

Our public money is lavishly squandered away in supporting a num- 
ber of savages, who have been murdering and scalping us for many years 
past. This has so enraged some desperate young men, who had lost 
their nearest relations, by these very Indians, to cut off about twenty 
Indians that lived near Lancaster, who had, during the war, carried on a 
constant intercourse with our other enemies ; and they came down to Ger- 
mantown to inquire why Indians, known to be enemies, were to be sup- 
ported, even in luxury, with the best that our markets afforded, at the 
public expense, while they were left in the utmost distress on the Frontiers, 
in want of the necessaries of life. Ample promises were made to them that 
their grievances should be redressed, upon which they immediately dis- 
persed and went home. * * * Few, but Quakers, think that the 
Lancaster Indians have suffered anything but their just deserts. 'Tis not 
a little surprising to us here, that orders should be sent from the Crown, to 
apprehend and bring to justice those persons who have cut off that nest of 
enemies that lived near Lancaster. * * * What surprises us more 
than all, the accounts we have from England, is, that our Assembly, in a 
petition they have drawn up, to the King, for a change of Government, 
should represent this Province in a state of uproar and riot, and when not a 
man in it has once resisted a single officer of the Government, nor a single 
act of violence committed, unless you call the Lancaster affair such, 
although it was no more than going to war with that tribe, as they had 
done before with others, without a formal proclamation of war by the Gov- 
ernment.^ 

We cannot wonder at Franklin's indictment of the Govern- 
ment, two months later, in his Cool Thoughts on the Present Situ- 
ation of Our Public Affairs : 

At present we are in a wretched situation. The Government, that 
ought to Keep all in order, is itself weak, and has scarce authority enough 
to keep the common peace. Mobs assemble and Kill (we scarce dare say 
murder) numbers of innocent people in cold blood, who were under the 
protection of the Government. Proclamations are issued to bring the 
rioters to justice. Those proclamations are treated with the utmost indig- 
nity and contempt. Not a magistrate dares wag a finger towards discover- 



^ Life and Correspondence of President Reed, William B. Reed, i. 35. 



436 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

ing or apprehending the delinquents (we must not call them murderers). 
They assemble again, and with arms in their hands approach the capital. 
The Government truckles, condescends to cajole them, and drops all prose- 
cution of their crimes ; while honest citizens, threatened in their lives and 
fortunes, flee the province, as having no confidence in the people' s protec- 
tion. We are daily threatened with more of these tumults ; and the Gov- 
ernment, which in its distress called aloud on the sober inhabitants to come 
with arms to its assistance, now sees those who afforded that assistance 
daily libelled, abused, and menaced by its partisans for so doing ; whence 
it has little reason to expect such assistance on another occasion. 

This border episode, sanguinary as it was, would have had 
less significance but for the heat of local politics then existing. 
The disputes between the people through their Assemblymen 
with the Proprietaries, were reaching a culmination. The 
advent in the province in the previous autumn of a Governor of 
Penn's name and blood had produced great hopes of a harmo- 
nious government ; but it was soon found he came with family 
instructions as rigid as his predecessors ; and the popular disap- 
pointment was greater in proportion to the height upon which 
favorable hopes had been built. The outbreak of the Paxton 
Boys showed the weakness of government, and afforded fresh 
material for the advocates of a change to employ in their argu- 
ments, and Franklin's Narrative made a lively picture of the 
situation as they apprehended it. Governor Penn proposed a 
Militia Bill, seeing the weakness of the province in self-defence, 
and the Assembly framed one in which due regard was had to 
the nomination of officers by the companies, but the Governor 
returned the bill, as it did not clothe him with the sole power 
of their appointment, and the bill was accordingly lost.*" 
Renewed dissensions on the supply bill arose upon the clause 
which subjected the Proprietary lands to a modified taxation, 
which the Governor contended should be the maximum for 
all their lands, whether improved or unimproved ; and the finan- 
cial necessities of the province were such that the Assembly 
finally yielded the point, but in great wrath. Convinced that 



^In September, 1764, under the name of Veritas Franklin wrote his Remarks 
on a particular militia bill rejected by the Proprietor'' s Deputy, or Governor. Bigelow 
ill. 304. 



History of the University of Pennyslvania. 437 

nothing now was left but to seek a change of government, from 
Proprietary to Royal administration, the majority,'' on 24 March, 
1764, passed a resolution of adjournment, 

in order to consult their Constituents, whether an humble address should 
be drawn up, and transmitted to his Majesty, praying, that he would be 
graciously pleased to take the People of this Province under his immediate 
Protection and Government, by compleating the Agreement heretofore 
made with the first Proprietary for the Sale of the Government to the Crown, 
or otherwise as to his Wisdom and Goodness shall seem meet, 

and took a recess until 14 May. On 12 April Franklin issued 
his Cool Thoughts. 

The response from their constituency confirmed the majority 
in their attitude ; and reassembling on 14 May, they proceeded to 
put in form a " Petition to the King for changing the Proprietary 
Government of Pennsylvania into a Royal Government,"^ and 
on 24 May John Dickinson made his celebrated speech in oppo- 
sition to the measure, the publication of which shortly after- 
wards brought Provost Smith into participation in the contro- 
versy, and Joseph Galloway at once responded to it in a speech 
which was also published. On the next day the Petition was 
ordered to be transcribed,^ in order to be signed by the Speaker 
on the day following ; Isaac Norris, the Speaker, waived his 
signature to the Petition by resigning, when Franklin was 
elected in his place, and gave his official signature to it^° Both 
Norris and Dickinson had been with Franklin opponents to the 
exactions and demands of the Proprietaries and hoped for some 
other government, but could not advance with him so far as to 
seek as a substitute a royal government. On 6 June, the day 
Provost Smith arrived in Philadelphia from his collecting tour, 
some of the Proprietary friends applied to Mr. Dickinson for a 



''The vote was twenty-seven to three. 

8 Drawn by Franklin. Bigelow iii. 303. 

^Joseph Richardson, Isaac Saunders and John Montgomery, were the only 
members to vote with Dickinson affirmatively on his resolution to adjourn the sub- 
ject another day. 

1"" Benjamin Franklin, Esq., was accordingly chosen speaker, and in the 
afternoon of the same day, signed the petition, as one of his first acts ; an act which 
— but posterity will best be able to give it a name !" Smith's Preface, vii., to Dickin- 
son's speech printed by William Bradford, 1764. 



438 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

copy of his speech, "persuaded that the pubHcation thereof 
would be of great utihty and give general satisfaction." But the 
speech needed the aid of another pen, and Dr. Smith was at 
once asked to write a preface to it. No man in the colonies 
was deemed so apt and able to take the other side in any con- 
troversy in which Franklin was engaged as was the Provost of 
the College ; even the influential and capable legislator, Dick- 
inson, now sought his fluent pen, and he was ready to respond. 
Fresh from successes "at home," and with grateful memories of 
his treatment by the Penns, he would naturally warm to this 
work and apply his ready skill to the attack of any attempt 
which sought to destroy the proprietary interest and rule. It is 
one of his best political papers, but evidently written in haste. 
Its publication at once brought to the press Galloway's speech, 
which was in turn preceded by a Preface, the author being 
Franklin himself. Dr. Smith's Preface to Dickinson's speech 
was sufficiently open to his corrections and criticisms, and we 
have one of the clearest and most pungent of his political 
articles ; knowing who Dickinson's sponsor was, he sought 
occasion under cover of Galloway's speech to answer him and 
meet his statements and insinuations, and to present to the 
reader a historic account of the more recent controversies 
between the Governors and the Assembly,^^ in which no Penn- 
sylvanian was better informed than he. 



^^ " It has long been observed, that Men are, with that Party, Angels or Demons, 
just as they happen to concur with or oppose their Measures, and I mention it for the 
comfort of old Sinners, that in Politics, as well as in Religion, Repentance and 
Amendment, though late, shall obtain Forgiveness and procure Favor. * * * * Then 
might all your political offences be done away, and your scarlet Sins become as Snow 
and Wool ; then might you end your Course with (Proprietary) Honor. P[eters] 
should preach your Funeral Sermon, and S[mith] the Poisoner of other characters, 
embalm your Memory." Preface, xxiv. to Galloway's speech printed by W. Dun- 
lap, 1764. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 439 



LXXI. 

Nothing was now left but to await the results of the 
autumn elections, by which either of the great parties hoped to 
attain the ascendancy. A crisis had been reached in provincial 
affairs, and the issues must be decided. In the city the Proprie- 
tary party had gained some allies, from varying causes. All 
those who sympathized with the principles (or want of princi- 
ples) of the Paxton Boys were now antagonistic to Franklin and 
others who had cried aloud for the suppression of their crimes.^ 
The influential Presbyterians were now united in sentiment 
against a change of government, rather willing to bear with 
present ills than open the door for a change to a Royal govern- 
ment which might involve even the greater influence of Episco- 
pacy than was now represented by the Penns. Both the Vice- 
Provost, Alison, and Professor Ewing, had joined with Gilbert 
Tennent in a Circular Letter on 30 March to their friends : 

The Presbyterians here, upon mature deliberation, are of opinion, 
that it is not safe to do things of such importance rashly. Our privileges 
by those means may be greatly abridged, but will never be enlarged. We 
are under the King's protection now, as much as we can be, for he will never 
govern us in person; and it is of no great consequence whether his deputy 
be recommended by the Proprietaries, or by some other great man by his 
Majesty's approbation. Our charter is in danger by such a change, and 
let no man persuade you to the contrary.^ 

The reference to "some other great man" conveyed an inti- 
mation of the fear many cultivated that Franklin was seeking 
under cover of a change of charter his own personal advance- 
ment ; certain it maybe that had the change been consummated 
and had the new Master, the King, sought to make the most 
prominent citizen the Governor of the Province, that officer 
would have been Franklin. A man whose rare power of influ- 



1 ' ' My very zeal in opposing the murderers, and supporting the authority of 
Government, and even my humanity with regard to the innocent Indians under our 
protection, were mustered among my offences, to stir up against me those religious 
bigots, who are of all savages the most brutish." Remarks. Bigelow iii. 361. 

^ Sparks vii. 282. 



440 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

encing people was without its equal in the Province, and whose 
pen was feared if not respected by all, could only have arisen to 
this prominence from unworthy motives, many said ; and for 
them to impute to him now sinister designs for his aggrandize- 
ment was to be expected. In the heats of party strife, suspicions 
as to another's motives may be fused in one's imagination only. 
The elections took place, and Franklin, after having received 
fourteen consecutive elections to the Assembly, being honored 
with them during his six years residence abroad,^ was now 
defeated, but only by a minority of twenty-five out of a total 
vote of four thousand. However, the elections generally assured 
a continued majority in the Assembly opposed to Proprietary 
rule, and so soon as it convened in October, he was appointed 
to " embark immediately for Great Britain to join with and assist 
the present agent in transacting the affairs of this Province for 
the ensuing year,"^ and to bear their petition for a change of 
government. This turn of affairs, so unlooked for, gave much 
chagrin to the Proprietary party. Instead of committing him to 
private life at the public election as they hoped, he was now 
raised to a position of imminent danger to them. Great excite- 
ment prevailed. The elation of the popular party at this happy 
stroke of policy intensified the disappointment of the other side ; 
but these latter were powerless to thwart the appointment and 
could only vent their thoughts in a Protest " against the appoint- 
ment of the person proposed as an agent of the Province,"^ 
which paper bears the marks of Dr. Smith's authorship ; but 
only ten members of the Assembly signed it, including Thomas 
Willing and George Bryan who had just been elected in the place 
of Franklin and his associate Samuel Rhoads. The appointment 
was made on 26 October ; Franklin at once prepared to fulfill 
his mission. There being no funds in the treasury to assure him 
of the payment of his expenses, the deficiency was to be " pro- 



^ " In none of the fourteen elections you mention did I ever appear as a can- 
didate. I never did, directly or indirectly, solicit any man's votes. For six of the 
years in which I was annually chosen, I was absent, residing in England." Remarks. 
Bigelow iii. 361. 

^ Pettna. Gazette, I November, 1764. 

5 Smith i. 344-587- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 441 

vided for in the next bill prepared by the House for raising- 
money to defray the public debt." But Franklin writes his 
nephew, Jonathan Williams, " The merchants here in two hours 
subscribed eleven hundred pounds to be lent the public for the 
charges of my voyage. I shall take with me but a part of it, 
five hundred pounds sterling."^ 

The Protest was not received by the House, and found no 
entry in the Minutes, and its signers proceeded to publish it/ 

This called out, two days before his sailing, his Remarks on a 
late Protest against the appointment of Mr. Franklin as agent for 
the Province of Pennsylvania, one of his ablest and most caustic 
papers, as the structure of the Protest and its charges afforded 
him some strong points for his criticism and invective. One of 
the opening paragraphs has a personal reference in it which 
should bear quotation in this connection. 

Another of your reasons is that I am, as you are informed, very 
unfavorably thought of by several of his Majesty' s ministers . I apprehend, 
Gentlemen that your informer is mistaken . He indeed has taken great pains 
to give unfavorable impressions of me, and perhaps may flatter himself that 
it is impossible so much true industry should be totally without effect. His 
long success in maiming or murdering all the reputations that stand in his 
way (which has been the dear delight and constant employment of his life) 
may likewise have given him some just ground for confidence, that he has, 
as they call it, done for me, among the rest. But, as I said before, I 
believe he is mistaken.^ 

He evidently had no doubt as to the authorship of the 
Protest. 

His concluding paragraph has a hidden prophecy of his 
long absence, and is pathetic in its expression, as more than ten 
years were passed in the pursuance of this vexatious mission, and 
his return was coincident with the new birth of his country, for 



^3 November, 1764. Bigelow iii. 256. 

' " I would observe that this mode of protesting by the minority, with a string of 
reasons against the proceedings of the majority of the House of Assembly, is quite new 
among us; the present is the second we have had of the kind, and both within a few 
months. It is unknown to the practice of the House of Commons, or of any House 
of Representatives in America that I ever heard of, and seems an affected imitation 
of the Lords in Parliament, which can by no means become Assembly-men of America. ' ' 
Franklin in his Remarks. Bigelow iii. 357. 

^Bigelow iii. 358. 



442 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

he was homeward bound on the ocean when the first blood of 
the Revolution was shed in April, 1775. 

I am now to take leave (perhaps last leave) of the country I love, 
and in which I have spent the greatest part of my life. Esto perpetua. I 
wish every kind of prosperity to my friends; and I forgive my enemies.^ 

More than a quarter of a century later Dr. Smith delivered 
his Eulogium on Dr. Franklin ; time had brought him to differ- 
ent conclusions on the struggles of 1764, for speaking of this 
second mission of Franklin, he said : 

But under whatsoever circumstances this second embassy was under- 
taken, it appears to have been a measure pre-ordained in the councils of 
Heaven; and it will be forever remembered, to the honor of Pennsylvania, 
that the agent selected to assert and defend the rights of a single province, 
at the Court of Great Britain, became the bold asserter of the rights of 
America in general; and beholding the fetters that were forged for her, 
conceived the magnanimous thought of rending them asunder before they 
could be riveted. ^° 

But two years ere this oration Dr. Smith had meted out to 
Dr. Franklin in the records of the College his due honor for its 
creation, when he as Secretary of the Trustees recorded in the 
Minutes of their meeting which was held at Dr. Franklin's 
house 9 March, 1789, for reorganization, the unanimous election 
of " the venerable Dr. Benjamin Franklin, the Father and one 
of the first Founders of the Institution " as President of the Board. 

Franklin left Philadelphia on 7 November, and took ship at 
Chester, whither he was attended by a cavalcade of three hundred 
citizens. " 

It was kind to favor me with their good company as far as they 
could. The affectionate leave taken of me by so many dear friends at 
Chester, was very endearing; God bless them and all Pennsylvania. 

He writes to his daughter from Reed Island the next nieht. He 



^ Bigelow iii. 370. 

^^ Works, 1803, i. 61. He here quotes the Abbe Fauchet. Smith ii. 334. 

1^ Yesterday B. Franklin, Esq., appointed an agent for this Province at the 
Court of Great Britain set out for Chester, in order to embark on board the King 
of Prussia, Captain Robinson, for London, when he was accompanied by a great num- 
ber of the reputable inhabitants from both City and Country. Penna. Gazette, 8 
March, 1764. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 443 

had a favorable passage of thirty days, and was in London on 
10 December. ^^ Here we leave him in the furtherance of those 
measures of hopeful conciliation, which, however, eventually 
shaped themselves to the separation of the colonies, though when 
he entered on this present mission even his foresight could not 
apprehend such a political change which was of greater magni- 
tude and promise than had been witnessed in the pohtical world 
for many ages. And in the meanwhile we must seek a portrayal 
of the continued life and work of the College of his foundation, 
which under other hands was to supply the community with well 
trained men who would thus be better fitted to become cit- 
izens of the young Nation with whose birth and infancy the 
name of Franklin will ever be inseparably coupled. 



LXXII. 

The new buildings, the want of means for the completion 
of which had been the moving cause for Dr. Smith's tour of 
solicitation in England and Ireland, had been completed and 
were in part occupied. But the institution was yet unable to 
make the lodgings therein entirely free. At the meeting of 14 
June, 1764, immediately upon Dr. Smith's return, he was joined 
with Messrs. Coxe, Willing and Strettell in a " Committee to 
consider what could be done with the new Buildings, so that 
they may bring in an annual Revenue, agreeable to the Institu- 
tion." Their report, a lengthy one, is entered on the Minutes 
of 1 1 September. Some extracts from this may afford us a view 



12 News of his arrival in England did not reach Philadelphia for three months. 
Penna. Gazette, 14 March, 1765. Dr. Cadwalader Evans virrites him 15 March, "the 
most agreeable news of your arrival in London occasioned a great and general 
joy in Pennsylvania among those whose esteem an honest man would value most. 
The bells rang on that account till near midnight, and libations were poured out for 
your health, success, and every other happiness. Even your old friend Hugh Roberts 
stayed with us till eleven o'clock, which you know was a little out of his common 
road, and gave us many curious anecdotes within the compass of your forty years' 
acquaintance." Sparks vii. 283. 



444 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

of the designs of the Trustees for the accommodation of their 
pupils and of their endeavors to measure them by the limits of 
their financial ability, as also some knowledge of the arrange- 
ments of the Buildings. 

With Respect to the Buildings, there are Sixteen lodging Rooms in 
the two upper Stories, which we think may contain about fifty Boys, 
without being more crowded than in the Jersey College, which Dr Alison 
and Mr Kinnersley have visited on purpose to gain the necessary infor- 
mation. 

That we think the eight rooms in the second story may be charged at 
six pounds each room, and the eight rooms in the third story at five pounds 
each, so that these two upper stories will produce a clear Rent of eighty 
eight Pounds per Annum, exclusive of a double room on the first floor for 
the Charity Boys, which at the same Rate is worth twelve Pounds per 
annum. Of the three other Rooms on the first floor one is a Kitchen, the 
other is a Dining Room and the third (where the Charity Girls are) should 
be left as a Store Room and as a Sitting Room for the use of the Steward, 
as the Girls cannot either in Decency or Prudence be kept there after the 
Youth are collected into a Collegiate Way of Life ; nor do we find that 
the Charity Girls are any way included in the original Plan of the Insti- 
tution, nor were admitted into it, till the Month of December, 1753. 

That with Respect to the rest of the Qlconomy of the House, it is to 
be kept entirely on a separate Footing, and will be no expence to the 
Trustees after the first Outset, nor any way mixt with their Accounts or 
Funds. The Plan is as follows : 

There must be a Steward, a Cook and an Assistant, who is also to be 
Bedmaker and to sweep the rooms. [After enumerating the various wages, 
from the Steward down who was to have forty shillings per annum for each 
Boy till they exceed the number of fifty, the report proceeds.] 

In Jersey's, the Commons, one year with another are from ^17 to 
^18. In Philadelphia from the great Advantages of our Markets and 
buying in the Gross, we think our Commons will come as cheap, and then ' 
the whole annual Expence will be as follows to the Boys who live four in a 
room, viz: 

To Commons ^18.0.0 

Steward 2.0.0 

Room Rent the highest i.io.o 

Washing and Mending 2.12.0 

Servants' Wages o.io.o 

Firewood separate from the schools 0.15.0 

Wear of Kitchen Furniture and other Con- 
tingencies 8.0 ^25.15.0 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 445 

But the economies had to be carried further. The funds of 
the institution had so narrowed, partly by the lessening value of 
money, that closer calculations had now to be made than had 
ever before been entered upon. 

Fourth. As to savings, we think the following may be made in the 
general plan, viz : 
We commonly lay in eighty Cords of Wood, which with Hauling, 

Sawing &c. is ^80 

Of which the Scholars pay 6^. per annum at 150 boys 45 

Loss by Firewood ^^35 

Seventy Cords may serve us ; let every Boy pay for half a Cord, as is done 
in every School in Town for Winter Firewood, and here we may 
save ^ . £3S 

We have had two writing Masters, one at sixty and one at seventy pounds 
per annum ; whereas we well know that one has sufficiently done the 
business ; allow _;^io for extraordinary services, his salary will 
be £70 

Here we may save _;^6o 

Let the Master of the Mathematical School be for some years (as now) an 
unmarried Man, and an hundred pounds will be an honorable support 
to him ; whereas ^150 can hardly maintain a Family. Here we may 
save ^50. or at least we may save ^25 

Let the Scholars, as is usual in all Schools and Colleges, pay for their 
Quills, Ink, broken glass, and for a servant to ring the Bell and make 
their Fires, we will save £2-2 

The Rent of the new College may be 88 

Savings ^230 

This sum may be saved without any Debate or ground of uneasiness. 
A School for Girls was never a part of our original Plan, it is unbe- 
coming and indecent to have Girls among our Students ; it is a Reproach 
to our Institution, and were our Friends able to support them, as they are 
not, they should be removed to another part of the City. 
This school removed you will save by the House for the Mistress and the 

School ^15 

By Firewood for her and them 10 

By her Wages 45 

By Wages to her Assistant when she has one 10 

£^0 

Add ^230 

Sum Total may be saved ,^310 

Equal to ^5180 added to our present Stock. 



446 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Sixth. As to the Boys' Charity School, we think many of them are 
taken in too young, and many of them kept too long, and also that their 
Number has exceeded the original Intention, and many Persons, who are 
not entitled to charity, send their children to that School ; all of which we 
are of opinion should be regulated. 

The beginnings were now made to sever the College from 
the Charity Schools, which latter had been so popular a feature 
of the institution at its inception. But at the next meeting, on 9 
October, Messrs. Coxe and Strettell reported : 

they had perused the Minutes and consulted some of the Members 
concerned in the original plan of this Institution and are of opinion that it 
was part of the said plan to educate thirty poor girls besides having a 
school for poor boys, [and the Trustees agreed] that the Girls' school should 
be continued & limited to that Number and that no girls be admitted into 
it for the future otherwise than by a special order of the Trustees at their 
usual meetings. But it is judged convenient to remove the Girls' School as 
soon as possible to a proper Distance from the College. 

But the Charity Schools could only be maintained by the 
public generosity ; Mr. Whitefield's sermon in the previous 
October, which drew a handsome sum, was supplemented on 
10 April following by the performance in the College Hall of 

a solemn Entertainment of Music, under the Direction of Mr Bremner, 
interspersed with Orations by some of the young Students. The whole was 
conducted with great Order and Decorum, to the satisfaction of a polite and 
numerous audience ; by which near one Hundred and Thirty Pounds was 
raised for the Benefit of the Charity Schools belonging to the said College.^ 

The Trustees agreed to the committee's recommendations 
relative to the CEconomy and Management of the New Build- 
ings, subject to such Amendments and Regulations as future 
Circumstances might render necessary, and they appointed Mr. 
Ebenezer Kinnersley, Steward. 

Apublic announcement of the readiness of the Buildings for oc- 
cupants, for the waiting scholars were not at once attracted to them, 
was made in the Pe7insylvania Gazette of 3 i January, following : 

College of Philadelphia January 31, 1765 
It having been represented some years ago, to the Trustees of the 
College, Academy and Charitable School of PJiiladelphia, that many per- 
sons, at a Distance from the City, would more willingly send their Children 



'^Pennsylvania Gazette, 1 8 April, 1765. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 447 

to this Seminary, if they could be lodged and boarded in a Collegiate 
Way, under the immediate Care and Inspection of the Professors and 
Masters ; by which it was hoped the Youth would make greater Proficiency 
in their Studies, and the Expence be considerably less. 

The Trustees do, therefore, now give Notice, that a New Building is 
completely finished as a Wing to the College, capable of accomodating 
about Sixty Students, and that the Rev Mr Ebenezer Kinnersley, one of 
the Professors, a Gentleman of regular and exemplary Life, hath under- 
taken the particular Management and Stewardship of the same. A Num- 
ber of the Senior Students and Scholars are now entered into this Building ; 
and Parents residing at a Distance are hereby acquainted that their 
Children, being ten or elevefi Years of Age, or upwards will be admitted 
into it, and the Greatest Care taken of their Health, Morals and Education. 
For, besides the general Inspection committed to Mr Kituiersley, the 
Trustees visit Qwexy Month ; the Provost, Vice Provost, and Professors will 
also take their weekly Turns in Visiting ; and the Ushers of the several 
Schools lodge and board with the Youth in the said Building, to preserve 
the greater Decorum and Order. The plentiful and commodious Market, 
with which this City is blest, will give an opportunity of providing every 
Thing good in its Kind ; and as a regular Account of the whole will be 
kept by Mr Kinnersley and (after Examination by the Trustees or Masters) 
proportioned Quarterly among the Youth, without any other Charge than 
the prime Cost of Provisions and Firewood, with the stated Fees to the 
Steward and Servants, it is hoped that the Youth will be accomodated in 
the most easy and reasonable Terms. But if there should be, nevertheless, 
any Parents at a Distance, who may have any Person in Town, with whom 
they would particularly chuse to entrust their Children as private Lodgers, 
it is not intended, by this public Plan, to prevent such Persons from 
following their own inclination in this Respect ; the Trustees being ever 
desirous so to manage the Institution, as that the greatest Good may be 
done thereby. 

Some questions arising upon the powers and duties of Mr 
Kinnersley in this government of the collegiate family he 
solicited from the Trustees an explanation and definition of these, 
and at their meeting of ig November, 1765, they 

think it necessary in general to declare, that as they cannot, without 
further Trial, frame Rules that may provide against all possible cases, it 
was their Intention to give Mr Kinnersley all the Powers necessary for pre- 
serving good Order among the Youth in the said Buildings ; and that he 
may and ought in ordinary Cases to exercise such Discretionary Authority 
as a Father would in the government of his own Family ; and in difficult 
cases to take the Advice and Assistance of the Faculty of Masters, or to 
consult the Trustees when the case may require it. 



448 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

To get some light on the mode of hfe in the New Buildings 
and the needful Regulations governing the students, we have to 
await the proceedings of the Trustees for more than four years, 
and it is not until the meeting of 17 October, 1767, that we find 
any reference to the "Collegiate way of living" of the under- 
graduates. The minute recites "the oeconomy and manage- 
ment of the New Buildings to be taken into Consideration at 
next meeting, complaint having been made that sufficient care 
was not taken to keep the younger part of the Lodgers clean ;" 
and " Dr. Shippen and Mr. Inglis are appointed to inquire into 
the Complaints," but these gentlemen's " report thereon " was 
not ready before the meeting of 15 December, 1767, when it 
was submitted as follows, presenting a curious picture of the 
personal habits of the lads : 

They have visited the Lodgers and Apartments in the new Buildings, 
and had read the original Regulations made for their Management 
and Government, from which it appears, that the care of the Boys with 
respect to their Linnen, Combing their Heads and other matters, in which 
the younger part of them could not be trusted to themselves, had always 
been considered as part of the Steward's Duty, for the Allowance made to 
Him. And that Mr Kinnersley had assured them that he had always taken 
care to see that their Chambers were kept clean, and that Mrs Kinnersley 
sends for the smaller Boys twice every Week to have their Heads combed, 
and that every Monday they are ordered to bring their dirty Linnen to her, 
with a List of them, to be given out to be washed, and that she receives them 
back according to the list. They report further that on visiting the Rooms, 
they found them clean, and the Provisions good that were intended for 
that Day's Dinner. And as Mr Kinnersley engages to continue his 
utmost care in these matters, they think there can be no just ground for 
Complaint. 

The readiness of Mr. Kinnersley, and his willingness, to 
serve the College in all practical matters as well as professional, 
led the Trustees often to make use of his abilities in this way. 
And for the " attendance and service of a Negro " of his in the 
affairs of the Buildings, he had been compensated to the extent 
of;^i2 per annum, which arrangement had begun as early as 
April, 1767 ; he was thus probably the only slave-holding mem- 
ber of the Faculty ; certainly the only one whose chattel was 
for a consideration in the employ of the College. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 449 



LXXIII. 

On Dr. Smith's return in June, 1764, he found that the 
places of four of the original Trustees had been filled. Messrs, 
Leech, Strettell, and M'Call had died, and Mr. Taylor had 
"departed out of this Province." In their places were elected 
Mr. Lynford Lardner, a councillor, Mr. Amos Strettell,^ Dr. 
John Redman and Mr. Andrew Elliot.^ 

Mr. Lardner was a native of England ; his sister Hannah 
was the wife of Richard Penn, and coming to America in 1740, 
he was made Councillor in 1755; and died in 1774 aged 59 
years, 

Mr. Strettell, the son of Robert Strettell, was born in 
Dublin in 1720, and came to America a lad; he died in 1780 
aged 59 years. 

Dr. John Redman was born in Philadelphia, 37 February, 
1722, a " descendant of one of the first settlers of the State." 
After completing his classical education in the Rev. William 
Tennent's Academy, otherwise known as the Log College, 
which was opened in 1735 by Tennent, pastor of the Neshaminy 
Church in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, " where for some twenty 
years he continued to gather about him a body of choice young 
men and to train them for the service of the church and of 
society f young Redman began the study of physic with Mr. 
John Kearsley, a physician of high standing in Philadelphia. After 
beginning the practice of his profession he went to Bermuda 
where he passed many years, and thence went to Europe, pass- 
ing a year at Edinburgh at the medical school, and another year 
at Guy's Hospital, London, and also some time in Paris. He 
took his degree at the University of Leyden in 1748. On his 
return soon after to his native city, he in a short time earned a 
high reputation as a skilful physician and secured a profitable 
practice ; the delicacy of his health prevented him practicing 
surgery for which he had prepared himself. 



^8 June, 1762. 2 12 Dec, 1762. 3 wickersham, 453. 



450 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. ' 

He was elected one of the physicians of the Pennsylvania 
Hospital soon after its establishment, and became the first Presi- 
dent of the College of Physicians. He was elected 14 Decem- 
ber, 1762, a Trustee of the Academy and College in the vacancy 
made by the death of Samuel M'Call jr. and was retired in 1791. 
He was an active member of the Second Presbyterian Church 
of which he was elected an elder in 1784. Having obtained a 
competency from his profession, he gave up its active practice 
in mid-life. His private life it is said was a picture of beauty, for 
he had a warm heart for all those connected with him by blood 
or affinity, possessed with much humility, and faithful in all his 
religious duties, was of good sense and learning, and much 
respected by all. In his older years he clung to the habits and 
the customs of former years, and a picture of him in the Ridg- 
way Library portrays him in his wig with more humor than 
truth ; and his quaintness was equalled by his sincerity. 

Of his marriage, his two sons died in infancy ; of his two 
daughters one married in 1770, Daniel Coxe, of New Jersey, 
a member of the Council of that Province, and who continuing 
an adherent of the Crown soon went to England, whither his 
wife and children followed him in 1785, and Dr. Redman did 
not see her again until her return to America in 1807 with her 
children. He did not long survive to enjoy this restored com- 
panionship of his sole surviving child, and died on 19 March, 
1808. He had the satisfaction of seeing his grandson Dr. John 
Redman Coxe a Trustee of the University to which he was 
elected in 1806. 

Andrew Elliot was the son of Sir Gilbert Elliot, Lord Jus- 
tice Clerk of Scotland, and the son-in-law of William Plumsted, 
a Trustee, but did not serve long, as he was commissioned, in 
January, 1764, Collector of Customs of New York, whither he 
removed ; and on 1 1 September following his trust was declared 
vacant, and Governor Penn was elected to succeed him. After 
the Revolution he left New York, and died at his place near 
Edinburgh, in 1787. 

It was in this month of September that Dr. Smith 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 45 1 

attended " a convention of the clergy of New Jersey, and 
some of their Brethren from New York and Pennsylvania, held 
at Perth Amboy " and presided at it, as he had at the Conven- 
tions of the clergy held in Philadelphia in 1760 and 1761.^ His 
activities could not find their limits ; and these diversions — as 
they may be termed — from his duties in a " collegiate way," 
while bringing him in close association with his cotemporaries 
may have consumed time which the College might have claimed, 
especially after his long absence from it. The Convention at 
Perth Amboy, of 1764, took some notice of charges preferred 
against a missionary, the Rev. Andrew Morton, who had been 
a Tutor in the College from March, 1753, to October, 1759.^ It 
was at the close of the year 1764 that Dr. Smith met Colonel 
Bouquet on his return from his successful expedition against 
the Ohio Indians, and undertook to write for him an Historical 
Account ofit from the Journals and other papers which Bouquet 
furnished him for that purpose. This came from the press of Wil- 
liam Bradford in 1765, and the title page bore on it. Published 
from Authentic Documents, by a Lover of his Country l Many years 
elapsed before the Author was known. The book was eagerly 
sold, and in the year following a handsome quarto edition was 
published in London, and later it met with editions at Paris and 
Amsterdam. Dr. Smith's Introduction added to the value of 
the work, as it made a very entertaining narrative of the Indian 
wars immediately preceding the time of Bouquet's expedition, 
and contributed to our Colonial history a chapter as interesting 
as it was reliable. No one in the province, it was recognized, was 
so capable of editing Bouquet's materials as Dr. Smith, whose 
constant interest in local politics had kept him well informed on 
all subjects which affected the welfare of the community, whether 
from within or from without. 



* At this Convention " Dr. Smith produced a plan of a corresponding society 
in America agreed to by the Venerable Society in England, but as he said sent over to 
the clergy here for their opinion," which was also urged by the Rev. Mr. Auchmuty of 
Trinity Church, New York, but proved unacceptable to the other clergy. Letter of 
Rev. Hugh Neill. Perry's Historical Collections ii. 304. 

* Smith, i. 384. 



452 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 



LXXIV. 

It has been seen that no Commencement was held in 1764 ; 
but that of 1765 was made attractive and interesting. On 30 
May some of the Trustees and Faculty met for the purpose and 

the Trustees then proceeded to the public Hall and several more of their 
Body at different Times attended during the Day. The Provost, Vice Pro- 
vost and Professors, followed by the Candidates and Students entered next 
in their proper Habits and at 10 o'clock the Solemnity was begun by the 
Provost, with part of the Church Prayers, and an occasional Prayer for the 
King, the Royal Family, the Benefactors of the College, for the whole 
Church of Christ and the Propagation of the Gospel and useful Science. 

There were seven graduates in course: Alexander Alex- 
ander, who had been a Tutor since January, 1764; Benjamin 
Alison, son of the Vice-Provost ; John Andrews, of Maryland, 
who became Professor of Moral Philosophy in 1789 and died as 
Provost in 1813 ; Thomas Dungan, appointed a Tutor in Janu- 
ary, 1764, who became Professor of Mathematics in 1766 ; 
John Patterson, who became Tutor at the same time ; James 
Sayres, a Scotchman by birth, who took orders in the Church of 
England, received the degree of M. A. of Kings College in 
1774, became Chaplain in De Lancey's Brigade, and died at 
Fairfield, Connecticut in 1798; and William White, the only 
son of a Trustee, himself elected a Trustee in 1774, Treasurer 
for three years from October 1775, President of the Board 
of Trustees in 1790 and 1791, and well known as the first 
Bishop of Pennsylvania, and the great organizer of the American 
Church upon its severance from the Church of England, ^ whose 
episcopacy he brought hither in conjunction with Samuel Provost 
of New York in 1787, and whose Liturgy in its adaptation to 
the new circumstances in which the Church now found itself, 
William Smith, the Provost of the College, had more influence 
in shaping than any other of its ministry. The Provost and his 
young pupil formed at College an acquaintance which ripened 



^ "The venerable father of our Church," so terraed by Bishop Hobart in his 
Address to the New York Convention of 1826. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 453 

into a long friendship, and in the ecclesiastical claims of the 
times which were now dawning upon them, William Smith 
found in William White a diligent and judicious colaborer, and 
in personal matters a patient and considerate friend, one to whose 
hands he finally committed his selected works for publication 
when he found the end of his busy life approaching. 

The Degree of Master of Arts was conferred in course 
upon the Rev. Samuel Keene of the class of 1759, on Messrs. 
Grimes, Kinnersley, McHenry, Peters, and Yeates of 176 1, 
Cooke, Jones, Porter, and Watts of 1762, and Anderson, Davis, 
Johnston, Lang, and Porter of 1763, Messrs. Huston, Ogden 
and Waddell of 1761 and Hunt of 1763, applied too late for 
their Degrees. "But," as the Minute has it, "the Mandate 
being filled up, the Company waiting in the Hall, and no Time 
to get a new Mandate written or signed by thirteen Trustees 
according to Charter, it was resolved that these gentlemen 
could not be admitted at this Time, and ought to have applied 
sooner." The honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred 
upon the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, 

although he had not received the previous degree of Bachelor, on account 
of the interruption in his studies during the season which was spent in the 
counting house ^ as a mark of their Attention and Regard to his promising 
Genius and great merit; 

and on Robert Strettell Jones, the son of Isaac Jones who 
became a Trustee in 1771, and the grandson of Robert Strettell 
a Trustee. 

Dr. Smith records the events of the day in the Minutes, 
and his narration of them is so interesting as to bear their 
reproduction. 

The Forenoon's Exercises were: i. Salutatory oration, by Mr Alexan- 
der. 2. Forensic Dispute, "Whether the Planets be inhabited." 3. Verses 
on Science, written and spoken by Mr Evans. 4. A Syllogistic Dispute, 
' ' Utrum, Sublato Statu futuro, maneat satis firma ad Virtutem obligatio ? ' ' 

5. The first part of Dr Morgan's inaugural Oration. The weather 

being very warm, the remainder was adjourned to Friday Forenoon, May 



2 Smith, i. 480. Minutes 3 May, 1765. 



454 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

31st. After Prayer, this Day's Business proceeded as follows: i . A For- 
ensic Dispute, "Whether the present Situation of the Earth, or the inclina- 
tion of its axis to the Plane of the Ecliptic, could be changed for the 
better ? ' ' The Bachelors' Degrees were conferred, as in the above List. 
2, A Speech on the Beauty and Order of the Creation, by Mr William 
White. The Masters' Degrees conferred as in the above List and Mr Sayre 
spoke the Salutatory Oration. 3. The Provost then delivered a speech, in 
which he gave an interesting but brief account of the present state of the 
Institution and with becoming Gratitude, mentioned the Kind Patronage of 
his sacred Majesty, the hon' ble Proprietors, the Archbishop of Canterbury, 
and the noble Benefactions he had received in England, by which the Col- 
lege is now placed on a more secure and lasting Foundation ; concluding 
the whole with an affectionate address to the young Gentlemen who had 
taken the Bachelors' Degree. Dr Morgan then finished the Remainder of 
his learned and elaborate Oration ; and the whole Business was concluded 
with a Dialogue, Air, and Chorus suitable to the Occasion, the Dialogue 
spoken by Mr R. Peters and Mr W. Kinnersley with great Propriety, and 
the air by Mr Bankson in the sweetest and most delicate manner. The 
Vice Provost dismissed the Audience with Prayers, and the young Gentle- 
men in their several parts of the Exercises did Honor to the Institution, the 
whole being conducted with the Utmost regularity and Ease, without the 
least confusion or Mistake.^ 

Dr. Smith had desired the presence of the Rev. Mr. Whitfield 
at this Commencement and invited him to preach a sermon on the 
occasion, but his farewell sermon he had preached in St. Paul's 
Church on 22 May and on the 24th he left Philadelphia.* 
He had however, in writing on the 8th of this month to the Sec- 
retary of the Propagation Society, used the following language: 
" Mr. Whitfield is here, but will receive no invitation from us 
to preach in our Churches, being determined to observe the same 
conduct as when he was here in October last, which our super- 
iors'in England have approved."^ But the Provost could rightly 
pursue a line of action with this great preacher in the building 
whose deed contained a proviso that he should preach there at 
will, different from that of a Church of England divine in admitting 



^The Solo air on Peace was sung by Master Bankson of the junior Philosophy 
Class with such an exquisite sweetness and Delicacy of Voice that the whole audi- 
ence was charmed with the Performance. Pennsylvania Gazette, 6 June, 1765. 

* Pennsylvania Gazette. Smith, i. 363. 

^ Smith, i. 384. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 455 

him within the bounds of his parish. The staunch Hugh Neill 
from his rectory at Oxford wrote to the Society in October, 
1764, of 

the powerful efiforts that Mr Whitfield is now making in Philadelphia and 
places adjacent. St. Paul's, the College, and Presbyterian Meeting houses 
were open to him ; but the Salutary admonitions of His Grace of Canter- 
bury to the Rector &c of Christ Church and St Peter's has prevented his 
preaching at this time in either of them.^ 

It is a curious coincidence that this good missionary was 
succeeded in this Oxford cure sixteen months later by William 
Smith, the Provost.^ 



* Letter 18 October, 1764, in Perry's Historical Collection, W. t,6t,. Yet we 
find it in the year before Whitfield had preached in the Churches, and this per- 
haps had brought the admonition which led to the present inhibition. Dr. Peters 
wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 17 October, 1763, of the request his Church 
Wardens and others made of him to allow the great preacher in Christ Church, and 
said, "therefore after Mr. Whitfield has shown his regard to the Government by 
waiting on the Governor, and had paid me likewise a very kind and polite visit, I 
invited him to preach in the Old Church the first Sunday his health would permit, and 
he has preached four times in one or other of the Churches without any of his usual 
censures of the clergy and with a greater moderation of sentiment * * * and I 
am in hopes his stay will be attended rather with good than harm to the Churches." 
ii. 393- 

■^ "I have in several late letters informed you that since Mr. Neill's departure 
in October last, I have twice in three weeks supplied the Mission at Oxford in order 
to prevent that old and respectable Mission from dwindling away, and as the act of 
our Assembly which was made for selling the old and purchasing the new Glebe, 
required that there should be a Minister to constitute a Vestry and do any legal act, 
I was obliged last February to let the people nominate me their Minister in order 
that M'e might proceed to get possession of the Glebe for the use of the church, and I 
accordingly consented to supply them for one year, or till you appoint another, unless 
so far as Mr. Peters' indisposition might require my assistance in Town, which has 
been but seldom till within these few weeks past." Letter i September, 1767. In 
Dr. Buchanan's Early History of Trinity Church, Oxford, 1 885. Dr. Buchanan 
says, " he continued to officiate here, certainly till 1770, and, most probably, for 
several years longer." p. 32. 



456 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXXV. 

The commencement of 1766 was a notable one as it was the 
occasion of the presentation of the Sargent Medal, already noted, 
and as the news of the Repeal of the Stamp Act on 1 8 March had 
reached the city but the day before. The deep interest taken by 
all classes of the community in this unfortunate Act, which for 
the time seemed to unite all the better classes against an unjust 
and unmerited tax, had stirred up the feelings of the people to a 
pitch of excitement and indeed anxiety which was without par- 
allel in the history of Pennsylvania and its sister provinces.' 
Even those who afterwards held back from joining in the legit- 
imate consequences of this malicious proceeding which nec- 
essarily had led to a surrender by the government to colonial 
clamor, thus opening the eyes of the colonists to their strength 
if united, were all now of one mind with the most active and 
restless of those who foresaw that the connection with the home 
country was being strained almost to rupture. Dr. Smith had 
written on 18 December, 1765, to Dr. Tucker, the Dean of 
Gloucester, in the following decided language : 

With regard to the Stamp Act, or any act of Parliament to take 
money out of our pockets, otherwise than by our own representatives in our 
Colony legislatures, it will ever be looked upon so contrary to the faith of 
charters and the inherent rights of Englishmen, that amongst a people 
planted, and nursed, and educated in the high principles of liberty, it must 
be considered as a badge of disgrace, impeaching their loyalty, nay, their 
very brotherhood and affinity to Englishmen, and although a superior force 
may, and perhaps can, execute this among us, yet it will be with such an 
alienation of the affections of a loyal people, and such a stagnation of Eng- 
lish consumption among them, that the experiment can never be worth the 
risque. ^ 



^ The citizens of Philadelphia united in the resolve to import no British goods, 
and to resort to more frugal ways suitable to the self denying times, and it was in the 
midst of this that the aged Trustee of the College, William Plumsted, was buried at 
St. Peter's Church in August, 1765, by his directions " without pall or mourning 
dresses." Watson Annals, ii. 269. 

'^ Smith i. 385. Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, had publicly charged Dr. 
Franklin with soliciting for himself or for a friend the post of Stamp Agent, and this 
led to a demand from the latter for a retraction which was ungraciously given. 
Bigelowv. 2S5-292. Sparks i. 297 and iv. 516-525. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 457 

The seeds of "an alienation of the affections of a loyal 
people" were however planted, and had germinated ere the 
Repeal had been effected. But no one could foresee at this 
juncture the extent of the growth of this alienation, which could 
have but one legitimate political outcome, and this was reached 
in a short decade. The excitement in the colonies was not 
sufficiently weighed at home. Evil as the Stamp Act was in 
principle and unjustifiable from every point of view, even 
Franklin, who was in London and laboring for its repeal, had 
but little hopes of this latter for a long time, and fully expected 
the British Government to adhere to its position. After the pas- 
sage^ of the Act he wrote on 1 1 July, 1765, to his friend Charles 
Thomson, his early colaborer in the Academy and College : * 

The tide was too strong against us. * * * We might as well have 
hindered the sun's setting. That we could not do. But since it is down, 
my friend, and it may be long before it rises again, let us make as good a 
night of it as we can. We may still light candles. Frugality and indus- 
try will go a great way towards indemnifying us. Idleness and pride tax 
with a heavier hand than kings and parliaments. If we can get rid of the 
former, we may easily bear the latter. 

Absent from his friends, he could not realize the force of 
the storm arising among them and their neighbors, which 
could only feebly be portrayed in correspondence ; but he was 
face to face with the authorities in whom he saw no relenting, 
and prudent man as he was he for a while accepted the 
inevitable, and not only made the nomination of his friend 
John Hughes as the Stamp distributer in Philadelphia, but 
prepared to supply his partner in Philadelphia with stamped 
paper at a considerable outlay. 

Ere, however, the 1st November came, on which date the 
Act was to go in force, the popular storm came and reached 
across the Atlantic, and Franklin used its elements with effect. 
He wrote to Charles Thomson on 27 February, 1766 : 

I have reprinted everything from America, that I thought might help 



5 On 22 March, 1765. 

* Bigelow iii. 400. See Mr. Bigelow's footnote on this interesting passage, 
p. 401 ; also Bancroft, Histoiy v. 306. 



458 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

our common cause. We at length, after a long and hard struggle, have 
gained so much ground, that there is now little doubt the Stamp Act will 
be repealed.^ 

He gathered this not only from the debates in Parliament ; 
he could recognize in the course of his famous examination a 
few days before this in the House of Commons that his replies 
to their queries were having their effect on his auditors : 

The promptness and pertinency with which he replied to every ques- 
tion, the perfect knowledge of the subject manifested in his answers, his 
enlarged and sound views of political and commercial affairs, and the bold- 
ness and candor with which he expressed his sentiments, excited the sur- 
prise of his auditors, and were received with admiration by the public, 
when the results of the examination appeared in print/ 

Happy indeed was the coincidence that the tidings of the 
repeal, in which he had so effectual a part, reached his adopted 
city in time for his partner to issue a supplement (though we of 
to-day would call it an extra), copies of which were in the hands 
of many of the auditors who attended the glad Commencement 
of his College in 1766. 

The young graduates, whose Commencement Day had thus 
a historic significance, were Robert Andrews, Phineas Bond, son 
of Dr. Phineas Bond, and afterwards British Consul in Philadel- 
phia from 1 79 1 to 181 1, Samuel Boyd, Thomas Coombe, after- 
wards taking orders in the Church of England,*^ and for a brief 
period an assistant minister at Christ Church, Hans Hamilton, 
Thomas Hopkinson, also taking orders,^ John King, Richard 
Lee, John Montgomery, also in orders/ Thomas Read, David 



^ Bigelow iii. 457. 

^Sparks iv. 161-198. Mr. Vaughan's Notes fix the date : " 13 February, Ben- 
jamin Franklin having passed through his examination, was excepted from farther 
attendance." 

' 17 October, 1771. 

* 24 September, 1774. 

^23 July, 1770. He settled in Maryland, and while Rector of Shrewsbury 
Parish, married Margaret the daughter of Hon. WaUer Dulany and niece of Hon. 
Daniel Dulany. Not sympathizing with the Revolution, he went to England with his 
family in 1778 and obtained a living in the Diocese of Hereford, subsequently 
becoming Vicar of Ledbury where he died in September, 1802, aged 55 years. From 
his daughter who married Rev. James Watts, M. A., who succeeded her father at 
Ledbury, descended her grandson, Rev. Robert Eyton, M. A., late Canon of 
Westminster. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 459 

Sample, and James Tilghman, twelve in all. Montgomery and 
Read accepted tutorships in the College. The Master's Degree 
was conferred on Ogden and Waddell of the class of 1761 ; and 
the honorary Master's Degree on "Joseph Reed, Esq., of 
Trenton, and Mr. James Wilson, one of the Tutors in this 
College, in regard to their particular Learning and merit." 
It was at a previous meeting that Wilson had petitioned for this 
honor, and the "Trustees had agreed to grant him the same in 
consideration of his Merit and his having had a regular Educa- 
tion in the universities of Scotland." As Professor of English 
Literature in 1773, and the first Professor of Law in 1790, and 
thus establishing for the University another claim for its larger 
title, as Dr. Morgan had in 1768 in opening the Medical School 
first developed the University idea, we shall learn more in the 
progress of our narrative of this eminent jurist and statesman.^'' 
Of Joseph Reed, as President Reed, we shall with interest learn 
more of the man upon whom, in 1779, seemed to alight the 
onus of breaking the College charter of 1775 ; yet when we 
reach that period ample reason will be found to have at the time 
appeared to many that some change was needed in its conduct, 
and Reed from the executive chair was but the exponent of a 
class rather than a party in having to deal with a matter, the 
only cure for which they thought to lie in the substitution of a 
new charter for the old. 



1° See Pennsylvania and the Federal Conslitution by Mr. McMaster and Dr. 
Stone, Philadelphia, 1888, p. 757 for a brief sketch of his life. 



460 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXXVI. 

One of the Baclielors of 1763, Isaac Hunt, the son of 
the Rector of St. Michael's Church, Bridgetown, Barbadoes, 
unsuccessfully applied for his Master's Degree, but his com- 
plicity in 

several scurrilous and scandalous Pieces, unworthy of a good man or Per- 
son of Education; some of them highly reflecting on the Government of 
this Province, as well as on this College itself where he had received his 
Education and his former Benefactors in it; in proof of which the original 
copies of two Numbers of an infamous Publication, entitled "Exercises in 
Scurrility Hall," were produced, with some of his own Handwriting in one 
of them ; and it was also asserted that he had been concerned in the pub- 
lication of several other Pieces of the like nature, as well as the "Letter 
from Transylvania," all which, the Printer of these Pieces, Mr Armbruster 
was ready to prove, 

were sufficient condemnation of his hopes. He was in waiting 
in another room to hear the judgment of the Trustees, who 
deemed " him at present unworthy of any further Honors in 
this Seminary," which Dr. Smith communicated to him, when 
he " did not deny his having written the Letter from Transyl- 
vania, nor his having made some corrections in some of the 
Exercises in Scurrility Hall, but that he was not the author of 
any of them." Thus the father of Leigh Hunt lost his Master's 
Degree in course in the Philadelphia College. Isaac Hunt and 
Benjamin West married sisters, and both found their homes in 
England. He took orders in the Church of England and was 
ordained 4 March, 1777.^ 



1 Hunt aspired to contest for the Sargent Medal and wrote to Dr. Frank- 
lin, " would be glad to be honored with your sentiments when you have read both 
Performances, which I propose sending you by the Packet. This much I would beg 
leave to observe that I could not expect to receive Honors from Men to whom I am 
so obnoxious. This is evident from the ill usage I have very lately received. Accord- 
ing to custom I made application for my Master's Degree, an Honor which I had 
not forfeited, and was therefore entitled to. The Trustees after sending for my Prin- 
ter, and strictly examining the poor ignorant Man with respect to the Political Pam- 
phlets I had wrote, without hearing what I had to say, rejected my Application and 
refused to give me my Master's Degree. Tliere are no Honors for me, this Side the 
Water unless your patriotic Endeavors for a change are crowned with success. Had 
I not so great and sincere a Friend as you are, good Sir, I candidly confess that my 
Ambition would have been greatly checked by this cruel Behavior— <:r«i?/ because it 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 461 

But it may be worth while to note how the exercises of 
this interesting Commencement were carried on. ''The Sol- 
emnity was opened " by the customary religious and loyal 
service. The local chronicler, the Pennsylvania Gazette, of 22 
May. recorded : 

it was rendered very splendid by the great Number of Persons present, 
and many of the public exercises being happily adapted to the joyful 
Event, of which we had received the News the preceding Day. 

Mr. John King opened with " an elegant salutatory oration in 
Latin." Mr. Hans Hamilton followed with "An Enghsh Ora- 
tion." Then came "A Syllogistic Disputation, Utrum Praescientia 
divina tollit Libertatem agendi." Then Mr. Montgomery and 
Mr. Hopkinson followed each with "An English Oration." 
The afternoon session began with "A Forensic Disputation,, 
Whether Ease be the chief Good ; the question was opened and 
stated by Mr. Thomas Read, who denied Ease to be the chief 
Good. Mr. Richard Lee and Mr. Samuel Boyd, entertained the 
Audience with many ingenious and specious Arguments on the 
affirmative side ; which were ably answered by Mr. Robert 
Andrews and Mr. Phineas Bond." And the "Valedictory 
Oration was spoken by Mr. Thomas Coombe, who obtained 
much applause by the Spirit of his Performance, Propriety of 
Action and Grace of Elocution." ^ Then came the delivery of 



flows from the poisoning Fountain of Faction and Revenge. * * * I am, worthy 
sir, with great Faithfulness your affec. and obliged Ilble Servt, Isaac Hunt." 
MS letter with American Philosophical Society. The title of his publication would 
but invite condemnation to the author by the Trustees, as follows: "A Humble 
Attempt at Scurrility. In Imitation of Those Great Masters of the Art the Rev. Dr. 
S — th ; the Rev. Dr. Al— n; the Rev. Mr. Ew — n — ; the Irreverend D. J. D — ve ; 
and the Heroic J — n D — n, Esq.; Being a Full Answer to the Observations on Mr.: 
H — s's Advertisement. By Jack Retort, Student in Scurrility, Quilsylvania 
Printed, 1765." John Hughes had offered five pounds to the Pennsylvania Hospital 
if certain charges against Franklin could be proven. His advertisement called out a 
severe attack on Franklin, to which Hunt's pamphlet was a reply. He thus, on the 
other side from Hugh Williamson, had entered the lists of controversy, and met that 
punishment which the other escaped. — Bibliography of Franklin. Ford. 351. 

2 A few years later Dr. Franklin wrote to young Coombe: "That reputation 
which you are acquiring as an Orator, gives me Pleasure as your Friend, and it will 
give you yourself the most solid Satisfaction, if you find this by your Eloquence yoa 
can turn many to Righteousness. Without that Effect, the preacher or the priest in 
my opinion, is not merely sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal, which are innocent 
things; he is rather like the Cunning Man in the Old Baily, who conjures and tells 
Fools their Fortunes, to cheat them of their Money." To Rev. Mr. Coombe, Lon- 
don, 22 July, 1774; draft with the American Philosophical Society. 



462 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

the Prize Medal, already narrated. " The last Exercise was a 
Dialogue in Honor of the Friends of America, and two Odes 
on Liberty and Patriotism. The Dialogue was spoken by Mr. 
Richard Lee and Mr. Phineas Bond, and the Odes^ sung by the 
two Master Banksons, accompanied by the Organ, and the whole 
was received with the utmost marks of Approbation from a 
candid audience. The Vice Provost concluded with Prayer," 
and with a graceful reminder for the Charity Schools. 

The Provost having given notice that some of the Trustees would 
attend at the Gates, to receive the free will offerings of pious and well dis- 
posed Persons, for the use of the Charity Schools, about Forty Pounds 
were collected — a great proof of the Generosity of the Public and their 
readiness to encourage this useful institution on all occasions. 

The sun was already declining in the western sky when the 
participants in this day's doings in the College Hall wended 
their homeward ways with the most pleasing reflections upon 
their country and upon the College. The young men who this 
day "commenced" their Life had upon them the brightest 
harbinger of their country's welfare and happiness, yet the 
shadows soon gathered and in a few years the classmates 
found themselves scattered and about equally placed on the 
opposing sides in the great controversy. One of the odes com- 
posed by young Hopkinson had an allusion to Col. Barre's visit 
on a former occasion to the College : 

Nor let our Barre' s worth be lost to Fame 

Barre, who deigned to grace these humble Walls, 

And listen partial to our Infant Strains; 

Who joy'd to see the Seeds of Sacred Truth 

And Freedom, planted in a distant land; 

Nor yet forgets our Cause.* 

The fervor of the descriptions of the College Commence- 
ments in these early years as prepared by the Provost, and often 



' " Two odes written chiefly by one of the Candidates, Thomas Hopkinson, B 
A." Penna. Gazette, 5 June, 1766. 

* " Col. Barre while in America was pleased to be present at several of the 
Exercises in this College, when some of the gentlemen who received their Degrees 
on the present occasion, were very young, and making their first appearance as 
speakers." Penna. Gazette, 5 June, 1766. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 463 

penned with his own hand in the Minutes, portray to us the 
spirit of their performance, and as he was able to put on paper 
such a picture of the present scene, we can reaHze what they 
must have been in influence and interest to those who partici- 
pated in them. His power of description was that of the pencil 
of the painter, and though the Minutes record year by year the 
like story, yet each has its variety and its significance. One would 
like to record all of them here, but in print they would not con- 
vey that living interest which the Minutes written in his own 
clear and decided hand do, touched up as they may be with 
some interlineation which adds force to the tale. But none of 
the later Commencements can equal that of 1766, just described, 
in interest, and we cannot suffer ourselves to linger over them, 
with however the single exception of that of 1768, which Dr. 
Smith records " may be considered as the Birth Day of Medical 
Honors in America." Even he could not with his eyes of a 
Seer predict what a great day this Commencement of 1768 was 
to the College, and how fruitful this Birth Day of Medical 
honors was of reputation and dignity to the College in those 
long after years for which he was doing his share in erecting 
the edifice. 



464 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXXVII. 

The year 1766 closed with the purchase by the Trustees of 
Mr. Dove's houses on Fourth Street and the adjoining Arch 
Street Lot, which now made their frontage on Fourth Street 
two hundred and eighty-four feet, and one hundred and ninety- 
eight feet on Arch Street. These had been purchased by him 
in I753» ^t the time the Trustees added materially to their 
premises, and negotiations to secure them were opened in 1765, 
but the uncertainty of public affairs and indeed of all private 
concerns due to the excitement caused by the Stamp Act broke 
these off; the delay was fortunate for the Trustees in that they 
were finally enabled to secure the properties at their own price. 
Having at the close of 1765 rented out their vacant Arch Street 
and Fourth Street lots " for any Term not exceeding Seven 
Years on the best Yearly rents they can obtain," they were 
thus enabled to meet their interest charges on this new pur- 
chase. 

Dr. Smith continued to respond to requests for his sermons, 
for no one in this or the adjoining Provinces excelled him in 
pulpit reputation. On 10 April of this year he preached "a 
suitable sermon" in Burlington, New Jersey, at the funeral of 
the Rev. Colin Campbell, many years a Missionary there. ^ And 
on 2 September we find him^ preaching in Trinity Church, New 
York, "an excellent sermon on the occasion" of the induction 
of his friend Rev. Samuel Auchmuty to the Rectorship of the 
parish, and again in the afternoon at St, George's Church.^ 

It was in this year, as we have seen, he assumed the Rec- 
torship of Trinity Church, Oxford.^ He appears to have remained 
the incumbent of this parish for at least five years, for on 3 May, 
1 77 1, he writes to the Propagation Society : 



^Fenna. Gazette, 14 April, 1766. 

"^ New York Mercury, 3 September, 1766. 

'In the following year we find him taking Dr. Peters' duties at Christ Church. 
He writes to Thomas Penn 23 August, 1767 : " Mr. Peters is in a very low state and 
I have been obliged to preach for him for some time past," and on 26th," Mr. Peters 
is got a little better since my last, but not yet able to do any duty." 

* Smith i. 406, 407. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 465 

I have great pleasure in going to preach among them and in Sum- 
mer particularly. * * * The people seem more desirous than ever of 
my continuance to officiate among them, and as it is at present a pleasure 
to me independent of some benefit it is to my large family, I must rely on 
your goodness that there be no alteration made without the concurrence of 
the people and myself, a request which, from my long services to the 
Church in America, I hope the Society will think me entitled to make. ^ 

Early in this year "we see the first evidences of that desire 
for the acquisition of lands, which, by degrees, made a feature in 
his character and history,"^ His biographer tells us that in Sep- 
tember he purchased a tract of land on the Juniata River, at the 
mouth of the Standing Stone Creek, which he laid out in lots 
and called Huntingdon, and this soon became one of the most 
flourishing Boroughs in Pennsylvania. This was no uncommon 
attraction to the active men of the day, and Dr. Smith was not 
singular in making such hopeful investments. The allayment of 
the Stamp Act controversy by the repeal of the Bill produced 
the most sanguine thoughts in the minds of those more adven- 
turous as to the future of the country, and to become posses- 
sors of tracts of lands which would surely rise in value ere many 
years was both a reasonable and natural attraction to many. 
However, in many^cases, loss was the result more than gain, and 
the years of Revolution when there was no market for idle 
acres brought many holders of such to penury and want. 



5 Smith i. 462. 

^Ibid, 391. He wrote 13 January, 1766,10 Sir William Johnson: "Mr. 
Barton who is a very valuable man, informed me that you had recommended him for a 
grant of some Lands from your Government, and he generously offered me to share 
with him. If, by your goodness, anything would be done this way, or any Tract 
worth recommending, I believe I have interest enough in England, and perhaps also 
in New York, to make it effectual." We find Dr. Smith writing to the Secretary of 
the Propagation Society, 10 August, 1769, " I do not expect to be in Town as our 
College vacation begins next Monday and I cannot deny myself my annual ramble 
towards the frontiers of this Province." Perry's Historical Collections ii. 443. 



466 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



LXXVIII. 

The Commencement of 1767 was not held until 17 Novem- 
ber; the reason for the delay, however, is not stated in the record. 
10 November had been appointed "and eight days more being 
judged necessary to prepare the students, it is put off till next 
Tuesday." The six graduates were Jacob Bankson, who spoke 
the Salutatory Oration ; James Cannon, a native of Edinburgh, 
who became professorof Mathematics in 1773 ; Francis Johnston, 
afterwards Colonel of a Pennsylvania Regiment in the Revolu- 
tion, and Receiver General of the Pennsylvania Land Office from 
1781-1800; John White Swift, the Valedictorian; Edward 
Tilghman, a native of Maryland, afterwards a leading lawyer at 
the Philadelphia Bar ; and Joshua Maddox Wallace, a grandson 
of Joshua Maddox the Trustee who had died eight years before : 
young Wallace shortly became a tutor in the College.^ Alison, 
Andrews, Dungan, Patterson and White of the class of 1765, 
were made Masters in course. " The honorary degree of Bach- 
elor of Arts was conferred on Joseph Hutchins, of Barbadoes, 
formerly a student in this College." But the great achievement 
of the occasion was conferring the honorary Master's Degree 
on " Mr. David Rittenhouse, of Norriton, in this County,^ on 
account of his great Knowledge in Mechanics, Mathematics, 
Astronomy and other liberals arts." The Provost's remarks 
when admitting him to the Degree, he enters on the minutes : 

The Trustees of this College (the Faculty of Professors cheerfully 
concurring) being ever desirous to distinguish real merit, especially in the 



^"An elegant Dialogue written in verse by Thomas Coombe, B. A., was also 
spoken on this occasion and an ode set to Music was sung by Master John Bankson, 
with great sweetness and propriety, accompanied by the Organ, under the conduct of 
a worthy son of the College (viz: Mr. Hopkinson) who has often shown his Regard 
to the Place of his Education, by honoring it on pubHc occasions with his ready 
service. The Band belonging to the i8th or Royal Irish Regiment, was kindly per- 
mitted by Col. Wilkins to perform the Instrumental Part of the Music." Minutes. 
Francis Hopkinson, Samuel Powel, and Hon. James Hamilton had arrived home on 
23 October in the Pennsylvania Packet. Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 October, 1767. 
Mr. Coombe's Dialogue in Verse was published in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 26 
November. 

' Norristown : This portion of Philadelphia County was afterwards set oft 
as Montgomery County. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 467 

natives of this Province, and well assured of the extraordinary Progress 
and Improvement which you have made by a Felicity of natural Genius, 
in Mechanics, Mathematics, Astronomy and other liberal Arts and Sciences; 
all which you have adorned by singular Modesty and irreproachable Morals, 
have authorised and required me to admit you to the honorary Degree of 
Master of Arts in this Seminary. 

Of this justly distinguished man, whose talent for the 
investigation of the mysteries of creation was developed with 
such industry and skill, we shall learn more in the progress of 
our present journey, as the institution was honored in his various 
connections with it ; he was made Professor of Astronomy in 
1779, and was a Trustee from 1784 to 1796. The mortality 
among the college men this year was remarkable : Dr. Smith's 
pupil and young friend, the Rev. Nathaniel Evans, had died on 
29 October, having borne the honors of the College but two 
years ; Paul Jackson, an early Tutor and one of the first Profes- 
sors, died at Chester on 22 October; and on 30 June, Professor 
Beveridge, the eccentric but faithful preceptor, had died.^ The 
death of Evans must have cast a shadow over this Commence- 
ment, for his early genius and his winning manners had drawn 
to him the affection of many and the esteem of all. 

The learning of Beveridge was undoubted, but in discipline 
he was very lax ; and it is doubtful whether the pupils of the 
Latin School made that progress which was expected. How- 
ever this may be, the regard held for him by the Provost was 
often shown by his aid in upholding his proper influence with 
his classes. In January, 1761, he had appealed to the Trustees 
" that he was under great Difficulties in the Discharge of his 
Duty, for want of a proper Sett of Rules for the Government of 
the Latin School, and likewise for want of a proper Grammar," 
which led the Trustees to an entire review of the Rules of the 
College. But the cure promised in these did not reach the case ; 
the Minutes record "it had been observed about that Time that 
the Discipline and good order which had been kept up in the 
Latin School, before Dr. Alison leaving it, were somewhat 
relaxed," and in September the Vice-Provost was asked to 



^Pennsylvania Gazette^ 5 November, I October, 2 July, 1767. 



468 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

resume its care and oversight " in the hope that justice might 
now be done to the great number of Scholars which had of late 
entered that School," at which Mr. Beveridge expressed great 
Satisfaction with the care the Trustees had taken to engage Dr. 
Alison's assistance.^ As to the Latin Grammar, " Mr. Peters 
and Mr. Stedman were appointed a Committee to confer with 
the Members of Faculty, and with them to settle a good Latin 
Grammar^ in order to be forthwith printed for the use of the 
Latin School." This resulted in the Grammar printed by Steuart, 
whose typographical errors afforded Hopkinson so much merri- 
ment as to lead him to publish his key to it, and thus give 
unconscious offence to both Alison and Beveridge, which harm- 
less humor shut him out from any share in the Commencement 
exercises of 1763, as narrated by Dr. Peters in his letter to the 
Provost already quoted. Beveridge's want of care was the 
cause of this : had Dr. Alison been as careful in details as Dr. 
Smith, the book would have had his own careful supervision and 
would not have appeared from Steuart's press in the form which 
invited Hopkinson's ridicule.^ At this time there were reported 
eighty-four boys in the Latin School. Upon Mr. Beveridge's 
death some difficulty existed in finding a successor to him ; 
the Trustees met the same day, showed their regard for him by 
bearing his funeral charges, and proposed to advertise for a suc- 
cessor. Young Wallace, soon after his graduation in the fol- 
lowing November, offered himself, and in December "entered 
upon three Months trial in the Latin School * * * and if 
not then appointed Chief Master, to have the common Salary of 
an Usher if he should chuse to continue longer. "'^ But search 
was continued for another, and "it was recommended to Mr. 
Peters and such other Trustees as should meet the Maryland 
Commissioners at Christiana Bridge, to take that opportunity of 



* Minutes 13 January, 8 September, 1761, 24 March, 1763. 
*Ibid 13 January, 1761. 

* " Dr. Alison and Mr. Beveridge * * now acquainted the Trustees that it 
was printed by Mr. Steuart under their Inspection and Correction of the Press and he 
had delivered to them five hundred copies for which they had agreed to give him 
according to his Bill." Minutes, 9 November, 1762. 

^ Minutes, 9 December, 1767. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 469 

enquiring of Mr. James Davidson, Master of the School at New- 
ark." At the February meeting following these gentlemen 
reported their engagement of Mr. Davidson at a Salary of Two 
Hundred Pounds, " he taking the house," one of the Dove pur- 
chases, "Mrs. Child lived in at the rate of Thirty Pounds per 
annum to be accounted as part of the said Yearly salary." Mr. 
Davidson continued in his Professorship until the abrogation of 
the Charter in 1779, and in the revived institution he held the 
chair from 1782 to 1806. 



LXXIX. 

The Latin School appeared to attract the greater solicitude 
of the Trustees, and the best assistance was sought for its Master. 
Late in 1761, it is recorded that "Mr. Polock a young man 
lately came from Ireland had been employed for some time upon 
Trial as a Latin Usher and appeared to be well qualified and 
diligent."^ He continued in service only to June, 1762, as he 
" intends going to keep a school in New England."^ In his place, 
young Watts, then in his Senior year " was chosen Usher in his 
room." Patrick Alison had been Usher since the summer of 
1760; more than once he applied for increase of salary, and 
finally in the spring of 1763 gave " Notice that his affairs would 
not permit him to continue longer in their service than the ensu- 
ing Commencement ; " when on Dr. Alison's recommendation, 
young Lang, a Senior, was chosen in his place. Mr. Watts did 
not remain longer than July, 1763, and Lang not later than 
January, 1764; the latter repented and applied in February to 
be admitted again as Tutor "but all were of opinion that as he 
left the Trustees' service abruptly he should not be employed 
again."^ John Davis, a tutor in the Enghsh school, was on 12 

^Minutes I o November, 1761. ^ibid, il May, 1762. 

' Ibid, 14 February, 1764. 



4/0 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

July, 1763, two months after his graduation, admitted a Tutor 
in the Latin School. But the following May found him 
acquainting the Trustees that " his affairs require him to leave 
their service." He was succeeded by John Andrews, of the 
Senior Class, who in later years became the head of the institu- 
tion ; he, in turn, applied to the Trustees in July, 1765, " and 
obtained leave to remove to take charge of a school at Lan- 
caster." Dungan, his classmate, a tutor in the English school, 
succeeded him in the Latin School. Robert Eaton, recom- 
mended by " Mr. Powell the Master of the School at Burlington 
whom he had served as a Latin assistant," was chosen in February, 
1764, in the place made vacant by Lang. Mr. Peters had 
examined this young man and reported that " he had but in part 
examined him as to his Learning and Ability to teach which were 
not extraordinary, yet it appeared to him that he had the funda- 
mentals of the Languages and a good improveable Capacity." 
But in the following August he was relieved, " they having no 
farther occasion for his services.* We find a Mr. Anderson Tu- 
tor in the Latin School, but his place was filled in June, 1766, by 
Thomas Read of the class of that year. John Montgomery, of 
the class of 1766, became the following year Tutor in the Latin 
School. 

The Mathematical School since the death of Mr. Grew in 
1759 had been but inefficiently mastered. In March, 1760, Dr. 
Peters 

acquainted the Trustees that he had examined the Mathematical School in 
which there are twenty Boys who belong to that school and no other; and 
besides these he found Numbers of Boys from the Latin and English 
Schools who came there to be taught to write, that he thinks the Business 
being too much for Mr Pratt to go thro', the Boys cannot be sufficiently 
instructed, and desires the Trustees will think of giving him some assistant. 

On the endorsement of the Provost, Samuel Campbell, an 
Usher in the Charity School since August, 1759, "who wrote a 
very good hand," was appointed, " he teaching the Boys to 
write one hour and an half in the Latin School and the same 



* Minutes 13 March, 21 August, 1764. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 471 

in the English School," and he was then also appointed Clerk 
to the Trustees. It was not until January following that a 
head for this important school was found in Mr. Hugh 
Williamson who had been an Usher in the Latin School 
up to June, 1757; indeed Mr, Pratt, in temporary charge, had 
left in May, 1760, and Mr. Campbell had in fact been the only 
incumbent. Mr. Williamson resumed his connection with the 
College and became the Professor of Mathematics. Here he 
faithfully continued until, in June, 1763, he expressed a desire 
to be relieved, which was allayed by the Trustees acceding at 
their next meeting to some proposed regulations he presented 
which arose from " some sentiments he offered concerning the 
present state of the school." But as his views were not endorsed 
fully he in November following renewed his request, and the 
school was again put under the 

care of Mr Pratt the writing Master. ■«• * * the rather as some of the 
"^ftrustees were told by Mr Pratt that he had improved himself in the several 
parts of Learning taught there, and would be willing to undertake it till 
they could be supplied with a Master to their Minds. 

This continued for two years; in November, 1765, "the 
Trustees for several weighty considerations have agreed to pro- 
vide an able Mathematical Master (for the school in which Mr. 
Pratt is now employed) as soon as possible ;" and in January 
following Thomas Dungan " who had his education in this Col- 
lege and was well qualified in these Respects," and who had 
been tutor in the English and Latin Schools respectively, was 
appointed Professor of Mathematics. As the writing lessons 
came under this department, we learn the idea of the Trustees 
of a proper standard recorded in their Minutes of 17 October, 
1767, 

that strict orders be given to the Masters of the Latin School to receive 
no exercises from the Boys that are blotted, interlined, or not written in as 
fair and good a Hand, as the Boy can be supposed capable to write. ^ 



^ In the Minutes of 21 August, 1764, we find Tutor Johnston's salary aug- 
mented to the sum of ten pounds " in consideration of doing the whole duty of Writing 
Master in both schools and making Pens between 6 and 8 in the Morning in Sum- 
mer, and between the School Hours in Winter." 



4/2 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

The English School, under Mr. Kinnersley's care, seemed 
to attract less and less interest with the Trustees, and Franklin 
on his return had good cause for faulting this important branch ; 
the Professor was given the Stewardship of the new Buildings, 
and anxious and careful man as he was, he could not success- 
fully carry on jointly these two charges. In November, 1761, 
John Davis " one of the Junior Students in the Philosophy 
Classes offered his services to assist Mr. Kinnersley two or 
three hours every day." In May, 1763, a few days before his 
graduation, he was formally appointed "an usher in the Eng- 
lish School." In the ensuing July he was appointed Tutor in 
the Latin School, and Isaac Hunt, his classmate, became Tutor 
in the English School. In April, 1764, Mr. Alexander Alex- 
ander was "admitted full Tutor in the English School." In the 
following October, he was appointed Tutor in the Latin School, 
Edward Jones succeeding him here, but the latter resigned in 
April, 1765, being in turn succeeded by Thomas Dungan. In 
June, 1766, John Montgomery, who had just graduated, was 
appointed to "assist Mr. Kinnersley until further Orders." We 
find him later Tutor in the Latin School. ^ At the meeting of 
January, 1768, it was "remarked that the Schools suffer in the 
public esteem by the Discontinuance of public speaking," and 
at a special meeting called a week later, Jonathan Easton and 
Thomas Hall, then in their Senior Year, were selected 

to assist Mr Kinnersley in the English School and taking care of the same 
when he shall be employed in teaching the Students in the Philosophy 
Classes and Grammar School, the Art ef Public Speaking. 



^ Minutes 10 November, 1767, 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 473 



LXXX. 

Thus far have we some illustrations of the different Schools 
of the Academy. The College, in its higher aims, was under 
the care of the Provost and Vice Provost, Dr. Ewing, who was 
now made Professor of Natural Philosophy, supplying the 
former's place in his absence. The Trustees gave their interest 
to both, though reasonably their concern was greater for the 
Lower Schools, as probably less immediately under the Pro- 
vost's Eyes. We find them in April, 1762, just after Dr. Smith 
sailed for England, assiduous in their duties as Examiners of the 
pupils : " The Senior Students were examined by Dr. Alison and 
Mr. Peters in the Greek and Latin Languages ; by Mr. Ewing 
and Mr. Williamson in Mathematicks ; and by Mr. Peters and 
Dr. Alison in Logic which took up the Forenoon." In the 
afternoon 

Mr Stedman and Mr Ewing examined the Students in Natural Phil- 
osophy, and Dr Alison and Mr Peters in Moral Philosophy. The exami- 
nation in all the Branches of Science was Strict and full, and the Students 
gave very clear and sensible answers, much to the satisfaction of the 
Trustees, and the audience was pleased to express, at going away, very 
favorable Sentiments of the great Improvement made by Students. 

The public examination of the students on 24 March, 1763, 
" Mr. Peters, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Stedman, Mr. Coleman, and 
Mr. Duche " having been appointed at a previous meeting "to 
examine them strictly in the Classicks and in all the Branches of 
Science that they had been instructed in, * * was held in 
the Publick Hall before a large audience of People, and the 
Students acquitted themselves to the Satisfaction of the Trustees." 

Of tuition in modern languages not much could have been 
expected. Since the short professorship of Mr. Creamer in the 
French and German Languages in 1754, there had been tuition 
for a short while by Mr. Fontaine who died in 1760,^ and he 
was succeeded by another — whose name is not recorded — who 



^ Minutes 14 October, 1760. 



474 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

" was well recommended for a good French Master." Later, 
we find in the Minutes of 8 January, 1763, 

The Rev Mr Rothenbuller, Minister of the Calvinist Church in this 
city having been desired by some of the scholars to teach them the French 
Language, applied for Liberty to make use of one of the Rooms of the 
Academy for that Purpose, which was granted him, so as he did not 
interfere with any of the School hours. 

And on 20 May, 1766, Dr Smith records : 

Mr Paul Fook was chosen Professor of the French and Spanish 
Tongues in this College, by the vote of fourteen Trustees, immediately 
after the Commencement. 

The Provost's division of the studies in the Academy and 
the College he defines for us in his curriculum of 1754. The 
former embraced the professorship " of English and Oratory 
with one Assistant and a Writing Master," and the professorship 
of Mathematics. The College embraced the three Philosophy 
Schools under the Provost and Vice Provost, and the Latin and 
Greek School under the " Professor of Languages, three Tutors, 
a Writing Master, &c." In the course of the twelve years 
following this, these proper divisions may not have been fully 
conformed to, the Provost being twice absent in England. Dr. 
Ewing taking the Provost's lectures in his second absence as he 
did in the first, brought him to a larger acquaintance with the 
pupils and the institution, and in the Professorship of Natural 
Philosophy, which he was given in February, 1762, he continued 
fifteen years, as his assistance to the College classes had been 
made necessary by his merits of learning and teaching. The 
maintenance of the schools in the Academy was essential to a 
supply of proper material for the classes in the College ; the 
former were more closely under the concern of the Trustees, the 
latter were under the supervision of Smith, Alison and Ewing. 
To sustain the College life, that of the Academy must be 
nurtured in order to supply a trained constituency for the 
former. There were no schools in the city or neighborhood 
who contributed any boy to the College lectures ; those schools 
who furnished such were in the adjoining counties or in Mary- 
land ; hence the importance, indeed the necessity, of furnishing 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 475 

the Academy classes with efficient and experienced teachers, in 
order to attract from the community the lads of the rising gene- 
rations. But the results as shown by the number in the gradu- 
ating classes does not evidence any growing influence of the 
College on the townsfolk; though the stimulus of the Commence- 
ment of 1766, with its Sargent Medal, for which even a Prince- 
tonian had competed, may have influenced the material which 
made up the large classes of 1770 and 1771, each of which 
however graduated but fourteen. 

In addition to his regular lectures, the Provost had at the 
close of 1766 opened a course of Lectures on Natural and 
Experimental Philosophy for the benefit of the Medical Students, 
and this he proposed in the following season 

to continue on an extensive plan, at the request of the Medical Trustees 
and Professors.^ * * * As these lectures are instituted and given 
gratis with the view to encourage the medical schools lately opened, and 
to extend the usefulness and reputation of the College, any gentlemen who 
have formerly been educated in this Seminary, and are desirous of renew- 
ing their acquaintance with the above mentioned branches of Knowledge, 
will be welcome to attend the course. 

But this notice was anticipated by the announcement a 
week before by Mr. Ewing and Dr. Williamson of their intro- 
ductory Lecture to a course of Natural and Experimental 
Philosophy to be given on 11 December "at the Lodge." 
This had been the subject of some correspondence by these 
gentlemen with the Trustees. They had written to the latter 
on 26 October : 

Many young gentlemen in this Place being desirous of making some 
progress in the Study of Natural Philosophy, but from their want of Mathe- 
matics and the necessary avocations of Business, not being able to attend 
the Lectures given in the College by your Provost, have repeatedly 
solicited us to institute a private Lecture this Season, on such a Plan, 
and at such hours, as might be most convenient and best suited to them. 



'^Pennsylvania Gazette, 17, 31, December, 1767. The advertisement has a 
" N. B. An evening Lecture in some branches of Mathematics, preparatory to the 
Philosophical course is opened at the College." The notice included the following 
inducement : " To the standing use of the large apparatus belonging to the College, 
Mr. Kinnersley has engaged to add the use of his electrical apparatus which is fixed 
there, and to deliver the lectures on electricity himself, as well as to give his occa- 
sional assistance in other branches." 



476 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

And they craved permission for the "Use of your Philosophical 
Apparatus, which is in the College " ; and gave the promise "to 
fix the time of Lecturing so as by no means to interfere with the 
College Hours, or with the Provost when he may have occasion 
to use the Apparatus " ; and asked whether the Trustees could 
" conveniently spare the Use of any Room in the College to give 
our. Lectures " ; concluding with the assurance, "so to conduct 
our Lecture as not to injure the Apparatus, incommode the Pro- 
fessors, nor hurt the Institution." The share of Dr. William- 
son in this I'equest ruled it out, for the Trustees 
unaminously resolved that it would be improper to allow any Persons 
except the Professors, to read Lectures in the College, but it was agreed to 
give Mr. Ewing and Dr. Williamson the use of the apparatus, for this 
season, out of the College, agreeable to their Request at such times as shall 
not interfere with Dr Smith's Lectures to the College Pupils, in his Class, 
or with the Course he has engaged to give at the Request of the Medical 
Professors to the Medical Students. 

While there thus seemed to be a conflict of service, the 
Provost maintained his jurisdiction ; though it is difficult now to 
assign a reason for Professor Ewing adding his influence to the 
plan of Dr. Williamson, who since his retirement from the pro- 
fessorship of Mathematics four years prior to this had not been 
solicited to renew his connection with the Colleo-e. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 477 



LXXXI. 

The Commencement of 1767 had been attended by Col. 
Wilkins, a schoolmate of the Provost's at Aberdeen, whose 
Re.s^iment, the i8th or Royal Irish Regiment was then quartered 
in Philadelphia, and its Band had given accompaniment to the 
music on the occasion, and supported Hopkinson's performance 
on the organ. Dr. Smith was made Chaplain pro tempore of the 
regiment ; and in the following spring he preached a series of 
sermons before the Regiment on The Christian Soldier's Duty 
" in the Great Hall of the College of Philadelphia."^ In the fol- 
lowing June he preached twice again to them, " being the last 
or farewell to the said Regiment, then under marching orders." 
These offer good specimens of his effective style in presenting a 
subject, made more impressive by his remarkable oratorical 
powers which tradition assures us were unequaled by any 
of the preachers or speakers of the time in the province, and 
the fame of which opened to him the pulpits of all the churches 
in the other provinces. It was in the autumn of this year that 
we find him acting as Rector of Christ Church in the absence 
of Dr. Peters at Fort Stanwix, New York, where a treaty was 
being concluded with the Indians. Dr. Peters had been desired 
by the Governor and Council, he told his Vestry, to attend the 
treaty, 

from a belief that his long experience in Indian affairs would enable 
him to be of great service there ; * * * he had consented to go, and 
Dr Smith was so good as to promise to do his duty in his absence.^ 

Dr. Peters, on this visit, did some Missionary work among 
the Indians, and baptised many, whose names on his return 
home he entered on the records of his Church. His zeal must 
have communicated itself to some of his friends in Philadelphia. 
Dr. Smith writes to Sir William Johnson, 17 December, 1768 : 

I should be glad to know whether any lands be reserved for the 
church and Indian Missions upon the plan formerly mentioned, * * * 



^ These are Nos. ix., x., xi., and xiii in his Works of 1803. 
^ Minutes Vestry of Christ Church, 5 September, 1768. 



478 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr Peters and I have talked seriously about supplying you with proper 
persons for the Indian Mission, and on the whole submit to you whether it 
were not best to have one or two pious young men of sound principles and 
good education, not exceeding twenty-two years of age, to be sent imme- 
diately to spend two years under your direction as Catechists and school- 
masters, till they acquire the language ; others, if found fit, to be sent for 
orders. We have two such men, who can speak both German and English, 
educated in our College, of exemplary good behaviour ; one of them on 
account of his grandfather Conrad Weiser, perhaps might be particularly 
acceptable to the Indians. He is also the son of a most worthy man, the 
Revd Mr Muhlenberg, who married Weiser' s daughter, and is at the head 
of the Lutheran Churches in this Province, and is willing his son should 
go on this business and take orders in the Church. The other is equally 
well qualified.^ 

Young Muhlenberg was Henry Ernst, the youngest son of 
the Patriarch Muhlenberg; he received in 1780 the honorary 
degree of Master of Arts in the University of the State of Penn- 
sylvania ; and became a member of the American Philosophical 
Society in 1785. "He passed his days as a pious and devoted 
Lutheran pastor, adding to his spiritual cure a close study of the 
natural sciences, in which he obtained eminence, particularly 
that of botany."^ Who the other one recommended by the 
Provost was we know not ; it suffices only to know that the pro- 
ject was not consunmiated, though it held large promise in offer- 
ing a grandson of Conrad Weiser to give his life work among 
the Indians. Just seventy years after this the University gradu- 
ated James Lloyd Breck, whose life work among the Indians of 
the Northwest has shown what might have been that of Henry 
Ernst Muhlenberg among the Indians of the North in provin- 
cial days. 



» Smith, i. 418. 

* Life and Work of William Augustus Muhlenbe7-g, D. D., Ayres, p. 3. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 479 



LXXXII. 

The year 1768 bore in its calendar "The birthday of 
medical honors in America," as it was happily termed by the 
Provost. The inception of the Medical Department has been 
narrated in connection with the biographical sketch of Dr. 
Morgan, to whom credit is due as its founder, though if the dis- 
tinction can be made, the father of it was Thomas Penn, in 
whose letter of 15 February, 1765, to the Trustees commending 
to them young Morgan's plans, must be found the influential 
germ from which it grew. But an equal share in the honor 
of this paternity must be granted to the ever faithful friend of 
the College Dr. Fothergill, who in a letter of April 1762 to his 
friend James Pemberton, advising him of sending by Dr. Shippen 
a gift of anatomical subjects and drawings to the Philadelphia 
Hospital, says he recommends to 

Dr. Shippen to give a course of anatomical Lectures to such as may attend. 
He is very well qualified for the subject, and will soon be followed by an 
able assistant, Dr Morgan, both of whom, I apprehend will not only be 
useful to the Province in their employments, but if suitably countenanced 
by the Legislature, will be able to erect a School of Physic amongst you, 
that may draw students from various parts of America and the West Indies, 
and at least furnish them with a better idea of the rudiments of their Pro- 
fession, than they have at present the means of acquiring on your side of 
the water. 1 

The medical lectures of William Shippen the younger had 
preceded this action of the Trustees by the space of more than 
two years, but his pupils completed their course under his 
instructions without any specific honors in view. Dr. Morgan 
must have perceived the inutility of this, though he had at one 
time projected an alliance with Dr. Shippen in a course of 
lectures. With lively ingenuity he recognized that the path for 
such honors was through the Philadelphia College, and sub- 
mitting his plans to the Proprietary he found them warmly 



1 See Minutes of the Hospital Managers, 8 November, 1762. Dr. Fothergill's 
expectations proved to be prophecies. 



480 Hjstory of the University of Pennsylvania. 

seconded, and the result was Thomas Penn's commendatory 
letter. Dr. Morgan accordingly submitted a proposal " setting 
forth his plan of opening Medical Schools under the Patronage 
and Government of the College and intimating his Desire to be 
appointed Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physick." 
Whereupon the Trustees 

duly weighing the above Letters and Proposal, and entertaining a high 
sense of Dr Morgan's abilities and the Honors paid to him by different 
Learned Bodies and Societies in Europe, they unanimously appointed him 
Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physick in this College. 

Thus an honored alumnus of the first class of the College 
became the founder of a new Faculty in the Institution, which 
gave "Reputation and Strength" to it, and which made the 
first step in that University life, which in later years was to be 
enlarged by the Faculty of Law and was publicly claimed for 
the institution by the Provost at the commencement of 1771. 
It was now in fact the budding University, which was only 
legally recognized as such when the political subversion of 1779 
created a new institution in which the title University was- 
fittingly substituted for that of College. 

Dr. Morgan soon had a coadjutor in his friend Shippen, 
who in the following September sent a communication to the 
Trustees reciting his earlier labors and asking to be joined in 
this new effort. A son of Princeton as he was, he had not 
before thought of asking to form a new Faculty for the Phila- 
delphia College ; but Dr. Morgan as its alumnus and with 
the powerful endorsement of the Penns had succeeded. Dr. 
Shippen wrote : 

It is three years since I proposed the Expediency and Practicability 
of teaching Medicine in all its branches in this City in a pubHc oration read 
at the State House introductory to my first course of anatomy. I should 
long since have sought the patronage of the Trustees of the College, but 
waited to bejoined by Dr Morgan, to whom I first communicated my Plan 
in England, and who promised to unite with me in every scheme we 
might think necessary for the Execution of so important a Point. I am 
pleased however to hear that you, Gentlemen, on being applied to by Dr 
Morgan, have taken the Plan under your Protection and have appointed 
that gentleman Professor of Medicine. A Professorship of Anatomy and 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 481 

Surgery will be greatly accepted by. Gentlemen, your most obedient and 
very humble servant, W. Shippen, jr. : 

and on this being read at a Special Meeting on 23 September, 
1765, "the Trustees by an Unanimous Vote appointed him Pro- 
fessor of Anatomy and Surgery in this Seminary." 

Morgan and Shippen well bore the honors of this Faculty 
and trained up a worthy band of young men who earned their 
honors in 1768. But their number was added to in January^ of 
this year by the appointment of Dr. Adam Kuhn, on his 
request, to the Professorship of Botany and Materia Medica "the 
Trustees having ample assurance of his abilities to fill that Pro- 
fessorship, for which he is likewise particularly recommended by 
the Medical Trustees and Professors belonging to the College 
itself" Dr. Kuhn was born in Germantown in 1741, the son of 
a physician who was a native of Suabia. He was entered a 
pupil in the Academy in 175 i, and in 1752 the father moving 
to Lancaster was there instrumental in establishing a school in 
which the Greek and Latin Languages were taught by eminent 
masters, and there young Kuhn continued his elementary educa- 
tion and commenced his medical studies under his father. In 
1 76 1 he went to Europe, and first resorting to Sweden for 
instruction in botany and materia medica at the hands of Lin- 
naeus, he subsequently went to Edinburgh and received his 
degree from that university in 1767. He returned from Europe 
in January, 1768, and at once received his Professorship. His 
first course was on Botany in May following. He held the Chair 
of Materia Medica for twenty-one years until he assumed the 
Chair of Practice. 

Before any of the medical students could be prepared for 
their honors, both Morgan and Shippen realised the value of 
framing rules for the guidance of the new Faculty in examining 
them. At the meeting of 12 May, 1767, 

Dr. Smith laid before the Board the following Plan for conducting the 
Medical Education and conferring Medical Degrees which he said had been 
prepared at several private meetings in which he had been present with the 



Minutes, 26 January, 1768. 



482 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Medical Trustees, viz. Dr Shippen, Dr Thomas Bond, Dr Cadwalader, Dr 
Phineas Bond and Dr Redman, and the Medical Professors Dr Morgan 
and Dr Shippen junior. 

The preamble to these rules is entitled to a record here ; its sim- 
ple statement of the situation held a larger promise in it than the 
Trustees and the Provost could foresee ; they were building more 
than they knew, and could not realize how large an influence and 
reputation to their beloved institution they were now preparing for 
their successors to work and develop. Morgan had founded a 
Faculty which was to earn for his Alma Mater a National posi- 
tion as the great instructor in Medical Science for long years to 
come, and its graduates were to extend the name and fame of 
the College into every corner of the land in a measure which 
could never be obtained by any efforts of the earlier Faculty of 
the College. If Dr. Smith moulded the College into a great 
teacher, none the less did Dr. Morgan earn the gratitude of suc- 
ceeding generations in founding therein the higher teaching of 
the medical sciences which was to be the forerunner, indeed the 
leader, in every attempt of succeeding times in our country to 
develop and further the knowledge of the healing art. The 
question may arise where Dr. Morgan received his impulses 
which worked out this great movement, and how came it that 
Philadelphia for so long a period held the preeminence in this 
science. We shall not be far wrong in tracing it to the seed 
planted in the Pennsylvania Hospital, which in turn was an out- 
growth of the College when certain Trustees of the latter con- 
ceived the bold project in 1752. Dr. Thomas Bond, alike inter- 
ested in College and Hospital, would welcome the pupils and 
graduates of the former attending his clinics in the latter, and 
this interest was, shared by his fellow Trustees Phineas Bond, 
the elder Shippen, Cadwalader, and Redman. If certain College 
Trustees founded the Hospital, the return gift was made when 
the latter offered a clinical school to the former's students and 
alumni to whom the younger Shippen and Morgan were now lec- 
turing, and the Pennsylvania Hospital must be granted its 
honorable meed of being the supporter and ally of the new Col- 
lege Faculty, making an obligation of duty and reverence which 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 483 

the latter can never overlook. Its continuance to this day in a 
like loving association is a constant testimony to that early and 
secure support and alliance, in which the new Faculty received 
its best inspiration and brightest encouragement.^ 

King's College, New York, was not long behind the Phila- 
delphia enterprise ; and from a letter of Dr. Morgan's we can 
conceive of the friendly rivalry between the two. He wrote to 
his friend, Mr. William Hewson, of London, 20 November, 1767 : 
" I have twenty pupils this year at about five guineas each. Next 
year we shall confer the degree of Bachelor in Physic on several 
of them, and that of doctor in three years after. New York has 
copied us and has six Professors, three of whom you know, to 
wit : Bard, Professor of Physic ; Tennant of Midwifery ; and 
Smith, in Chemistry ; besides whom are Dr. Jones, Professor 
of Surgery ; Middleton, of Physiology ; and Clossy of Anatomy, 
Time will show in what light we are to consider the rivalship ; 
for my part, I do not seem to be under great apprehension." 
King's College conferred its first degree of Bachelor of Physic 
in 1769, but its first Doctorate was in 1770, and this latter gives 
King's the precedence in conferring the greater degree.* 

But to return to the Rules of the Philadelphia College 
which were prefaced by the following Preamble : 

Whereas the Trustees of the College of Philadelphia by its Charter 
can confer the usual Degrees granted in the European Seminaries and Uni- 
versities ; and it being apprehended that the granting Degrees in Physic to 
Students regularly educated and properly qualified for the same, would 
contribute greatly to the Encouragement of the Medical School in this Col- 
lege, and would also be a Means of putting the Practice of Physic on a 
more respectable and useful Footing, especially in these Parts of America, 
and would moreover draw many Students for their Education to this city, 
which is advantageously situated for such an undertaking, in the Center of 



^ So close has been the association between the hospital and the medical 
school, that of the twenty-nine professors who have occupied collegiate chairs, eigh- 
teen have been attending physicians or surgeons of the hospital and five of the seven 
medical men first elected to these positions in the hospital were Trustees of the 
College. Dr. Carson, History of the Medical DepartmetU of the University of 
Pennsylvania, p. 37. 

*Sir Dr. Hosack's Inaugural Discourse Delivered at the Opening of the Rtit- 
gers Medical School in the City of New York, 6 November, 1826. Also Dr. Carson's 
review of the claims of King's College, Z^?j/. Med. Depart. Univ. of Penna., 66-67. 



484 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 

the Colonies; it was therefore the Unanimous Opinion of the Gentlemen 
above named that such Degrees in Physic ought to be conferred on deserv- 
ing Students ; and the following Qualifications and course of Studies were 
agreed upon to be proposed to the Trustees of the College in Order to be 
enacted as requisite to entitle Medical Students to their different Degrees, 

viz: 

For a Bachelor's Degree in Physic. 

1. Such Students as have not taken a Degree in the Arts, in any 
College, shall before receiving a Degree in Physic, satisfy the Trustees and 
Professors of this College of their Knowledge in the Latin Language and 
such Branches of Mathematics, natural and experimental Philosophy, as 
shall be judged requisite to a Medical Education. 

2. Each Student shall take at least one Course in Anatomy, Materia 
Medica, Chemistry, Theory and Practice of Physic, and Clynical Lectures, 
and shall attend the Practice of the Pennsylvania Hospital for One Year, 
and may then be admitted to a public Examination for a Bachelor's 
Degree, provided that in a previous private Examination by the Medical 
Trustees and Professors, and such other Trustees and Professors, as chuse 
to attend, he shall be judged fit for a public Examination, without attend- 
ing any more courses in the Medical School. 

3. It is further required that each Student previous to the Bachelor's 
Degree shall have served a sufficient Apprenticeship to some reputable 
Practitioner in Physic and be able to make it appear that he has a general 
Knowledge in Pharmacy. 

Qualifications for a Doctor's Degree in Physic. 
It is required for this Degree that at least Three Years shall have 
intervened from taking the Bachelor's Degree, and that the Candidate be 
full Twenty-four Years of Age ; who shall also write and defend a Thesis 
publickly in College, unless he should be beyond Seas, or so remote on the 
Continent of America, as not to be able to attend without manifest Incon- 
venience, in which case, on sending a written Thesis, such as shall be 
approved by the College, the Candidate may receive his Doctor's Degree ; 
and his Thesis is to be printed and published at his own expense. 

Fees to the Professors. 
No Professor to take more than Six Pistoles for a single course in any 
of the above Branches, and after two courses any Student may attend as 
many more as he pleases, gratis. 

A twelvemonth elapsed before the establishment of rules 
for the Examination of the Students and regulation of their fees.. 
On 27 May, 1768, the following were agreed to : 

I. Such Medical Students as propose to be Candidates for Degrees 
and likewise such other Medical Students, as shall attend the Natural 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 485 

Philosophy Lectures now given by the Provost, and whose names have 
never been entered in the College, shall enter the same, and pay the usual 
Sum of Twenty Shillings matriculation money. 

2. Every Student, on taking the Degree of Bachelor of Physic, shall 
pay not less than One Guinea to each Professor he has studied under in 
the College from the Time of his entering the Medical Classes and likewise 
the usual Fees for the Seal to his Diploma, and for the Increase of the 
Library. 

3. Each Medical Student who shall pay one Dollar for the Use of the 
Library (exclusive of the Fee at Commencements) shall have his name 
entered and have the free Use of any books belonging to the Medical 
Library of the College, during his continuance at the same, and attend- 
ance of Lectures under the Medical Professors. 

The fourth and last rule was in fact a request to Dr. Bond 
to keep alive the connection of the College with the Hospital: 

4. Dr Thomas Bond is requested by the Trustees and Professors to 
continue his Clynical Lectures at the Hospital, as a Branch of Medical 
Education, judged to be of great Importance and Benefit to the Students. 

These Lectures Dr. Bond had begun in December, 1766, 
and his Introductory he submitted to the Managers of the 
Hospital which they directed to be inserted in the minutes of 
their Board. 

Finally the " Birthday of Medical Honors in America" 
arrived, and on 21 June, 1768, the first Medical Commencement 
was held. It is recorded that 

the Trustees being met at half an hour past nine in the forenoon, and 
the several Professors and Medical Candidates in their proper Habits, pro- 
ceeded from the Apparatus Room to the public Hall, where a polite 
assembly of their fellow citizens were convened to honor the Solemnity. 

The Provost having there received the Mandate for the Commence- 
ment from his Honour the Governor as President of the Trustees, intro- 
duced the Business of the Day with Prayers, and a short Latin Oration 
suited to the Occasion. Then followed 

1. A Latin Oration delivered by Mr Lawrence, " De Honoribus qui 
omni ^vo in veros Medicinee Cultores, Collati fuerint. " 

2. A Dispute "whether the Retina or Tunica Choroides be the 
immediate Seat of Vision ? " The argument for the Retina was ingeniously 
maintained by Mr Cowell ; the opposite side of the Question was supported 
with great acuteness by Mr FuUerton, who contended that the Retina is 
incapable of the office ascribed to it, on account of its being easily per- 
meable by the Rays of Light, and that the Choroid Coat, by its being 



486 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

opake, is the proper Part for Stopping the Rays, and the receiving the 
Picture of the Object. 

3. Num detur Fluidum Nervosum ? Mr Duffield held the affirma- 
tive, and Mr Way the negative — both with great Learning. 

4. Mr Tilton deHvered an Essay "on Respiration and the Manner 
in which it is performed, ' ' which did credit to his Abihties. 

5. The Provost then conferred the Degree of Bachelor of Physic on 
the following gentlemen, viz. : Messrs John Archer of New Castle County, 
Benjamin Cowell of Bucks, Samuel Duffield of Philadelphia, Jonathan 
Elmer of West Jersey, Humphrey Fullerton of Lancaster County, David 
Jackson of Chester County, John Lawrence of East Jersey, Jonathan Potts 
of Philadelphia, James Tilton of Kent County on Delaware, and Nicholas 
Way of Wilmington. 

6. An elegant Valedictory Oration was spoken by Mr Potts " On the 
Advantages derived in the Study of Physic, from a previous liberal Educa- 
tion in the other Sciences. 

7. The Provost then addressed the Graduates in a brief account of 
the present State of this College, and its quick Progress in the various 
extensive Establishments it hath made. He pointed out the general 
Causes both of the Rise and Decline of Sciences and observed that as the 
present Sett of Graduates were the first who had received Medical Honors 
in America, on a regular Collegiate Plan, it depended much on them, in 
their future conduct and Eminence, to place such Honors in Estimation 
among their countrymen ; concluding with an earnest charge that they 
would never forget the Opportunities which their Profession would give 
them (when their Art perhaps could be of no further service to the Body) 
of making serious Impressions on their Patients, and shewing themselves 
Men of Consolation and Piety, which might have singular Weight from a 
Lay character; adding that what might more particularly concern their 
Practice, he had devolved on a Gentleman of their own Profession from 
whom it would come with greater Propriety and Advantage. 

Dr Shippen, Professor of Anatomy and Surgery, then gave the 
Remainder of the charge, further animating the Graduates to Support the 
Dignity of their Profession by a laudable Perseverance in their Studies, 
and by a Practice becoming the character of Gentlemen ; adding many 
useful precepts respecting their Conduct towards their Patients, Charity 
towards the Poor, Humanity towards all, and the Opportunities they might 
have of gaining the Confidence and Esteem of those who by their care 
might be relieved from Suffering and restored to Health. 

The Vice Provost concluded the whole with Prayer and Thanks- 
giving. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 487 



LXXXIII. 

Before another Commencement occurred, a young physician 
who had well earned his degree in a foreign school was crossing 
the ocean on his way home ; and having heard of the plans of 
the Trustees in devising honors for their medical matriculants, 
formed hopes of taking part in the medical work of the College ; 
and the name of Benjamin Rush is now to be added to this 
notable faculty. Young Rush, then in the twenty-fourth year 
of his age, had just returned from completing his medical studies 
abroad. Born in Philadelphia County on Christmas Eve, 1745, 
he graduated at Princeton College in the class of 1760, and 
shortly after began the study of medicine in Philadelphia under 
the direction of Dr. Redman. In 1766 he went to Edinburgh 
to further pursue his studies, where he secured his Degree ; and 
passed the earlier months of 1769 in London in attendance on 
its hospitals and medical lectures. Here he secured the friend- 
ship of Dr. Fothergill, and through him obtained the coun- 
tenance of the Proprietary ; and contemplating some practical 
plans for his work at home and possibly looking to a connection 
with the College of which his learned preceptor was a Trustee, 
and to the advantages of the Hospital with which Dr. Redman 
was also closely associated, he submitted his plans to Thomas 
Penn, who wrote the Trustees under date of 9 May, 1769 :^ 

Dr Rush having been recommended to me by Dr Fothergill as a 
very expert Chymist, and the Doctor having further recommended to me to 
send a Chymical Apparatus to the College as a Thing that will be of great 
Use, particularly in the Tryal of Ores, I send you such as Dr Fothergill 
thought necessary, under the care of Dr Rush, which I desire your accept- 
ance of. I recommend Dr Rush to your Notice, and heartily wishing 
Success to the College, remain with great Regard, Gentlemen, Your very 
affectionate Friend, Tho. Penn 



^ Dr. Carson quotes a letter from Dr. Rush written from London in October, 
1768, to Dr. Morgan which would imply some certainty on his part of being elected 
a Professor, " I am much obliged to you for continuing to read Lectures upon Chem- 
istry. I hope to be in Philadelphia in May or June next, so that I shall relieve you 
from the task the ensuing winter. Is it necessary for me to deliver publickly an 
Inaugural Oration ? Something must be said in favor of the advantages of Chemistry 
to Medicine, and its usefulness to medical philosophy, as the people of our country 
in general are strangers to the nature and objects of the science." History &c. p. 73. 



488 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

This letter was presented at the Meeting of the Trustees on 
23 July, Dr. Redman being present. And at a special meeting 
held on i August, there being fifteen Trustees present, and 
among them the two Doctors Bond, Dr. Redman, Dr. Shippen 
and Dr. Cadwalader, a letter from Dr. Rush was submitted 
offering himself as a candidate for " the Professorship of Chem- 
istry (which Dr. Morgan hath some time supplied)," when "in 
consequence of the above application and in consideration of 
Dr. Rush's character as an able chemist, he was unanimously 
appointed Professor of Chemistry in this College." Thus was 
formed a connection with the institution which continued until 
Dr. Rush's death in 18 13. Of his civil and public services 
our country's history makes true note ; and these in a measure 
reflected with advantage upon the Faculty of which he was a 
distinguished member. In the course of our present narrative, 
we may have more to say of him, as in his professional and 
political life he became intimately associated with all the interests 
and concerns of the College. The average age of the four pro- 
fessors, Morgan, Shippen, Kuhn, and Rush was under thirty 
years ; affording another instance in the history of the College 
that some of its best and firmest developments were the instru- 
mentality of young men. Dr. Bond, the clinical Lecturer, as 
Dr. Carson humorously records, "only had arrived at that age 
when experience is supposed to bring the greatest wisdom : — 
he was over fifty years." ^ 

At the Commencement of 1769, on 30 June, eight students 
received their degrees of Bachelor of Medicine : James Arm- 
strong, Josias Carvill Hall, John Hodge, John Houston, Thomas 
Pratt, Alexander Skinner, John Wynder, and Myndert Veeder. 
The Commencement of 5 June, 1770, exhibited but one of these 
honors, Thomas Parke. At the Commencement of 28 June, 
1 77 1, were conferred seven of these degrees, viz : Benjamin 
Alison (of the class of 1765), Jonathan Easton (1768), Frederick 
Kuhn, John Kuhn, Bodo Otto, Robert Pottenger, and William 
Smith.^ But this occasion was chiefly notable for the conferring 



^ History &c. p. 75. 

' Who married in 1775 the granddaughter of Dr. Thomas Graeme. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 489 

of the first degrees of Doctor of Physic, Messrs. Elmer, Potts, 
Tilton and Way, the Bachelors of Physic in the class of 1768, 
being the recipients of this honor. The Provost records this act 
in the following words : 

They then presented themselves agreeable to the rules of the College, 
to defend in Latin the Dissertations printed for their Degree of Doctor in 
Physic. Mr Elmer's piece, " De Causis & Remedies Sitis in Febribus," 
was impugned by Dr Kuhn, Professor of Botany and Materia Medica. Mr 
Pott's " De Febribus intermittentibus, potentissimum tertianis" was 
impugned by Dr Morgan, Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic. 
Mr Tilton' s " De Hydrope" was impugned by Dr Shippen, Professor of 
Anatomy. Mr Way's " De Variolerum Insitione" was impugned by Dr 
Rush, Professor of Chemistry. 

Each of these candidates, having judiciously answered the objections 
made to some Parts of their Dissertations, the Provost conferred the Degree 
of Doctor in Physic with particular Solemnity, as the highest mark of 
Literary Honor which they could receive in their Profession, 

These theses were submitted in Latin and were published 
according to the Rules adopted in 1767.* 

He proceeds further in his Minutes of this interesting day, 
and epitomises Dr. Morgan's charge to these young Doctors. 

Dr. Morgan, who was appointed to that Part of the Business, entered 
into a particular Account of those Branches of Study, which the Medical 
Gentlemen ought still to prosecute with unremitted Diligence, if they 
wished to be eminent in their Profession ; laying down some useful Rules 
for an honorable Practice in the Discharge of it. He observed that the 
"Oath which was prescribed by Hippocrates to his Disciples, had been 
generally adopted in Universities and Schools of Physic on the like occa- 
sions, but that laying aside the Form of Oaths, this College, which is of a 
free Spirit, wished only to bind its Sons and Graduates by the Ties of 
Honor and Gratitude; and that therefore he begged leave to impress it 
upon those, who had received the distinguished Degree of Doctors, that as 
they were among the foremost Sons of the Institution, and the Birth Day 
of Medical Honors in this New World had arose upon them with auspi- 
cious Lustre, they would in all their Practice consult the Safety of their 
Patients, the Good of the Community, and the Dignity of their Profession; 
so as that the Seminary, from which they derived their Titles in Physic, 
micrht never have cause to be ashamed of them. 



* These are the earliest medical inaugural essays published in America. Copies of 
them are with either the American Philosophical Society or the Library Company of 
Philadelphia. They bear the date 1771. 



490 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

LXXXIV. 

But this Commencement of 1771 is memorable in witness- 
ing the first public claim by the Provost for the institution of the 
rank and place of a University, to which in fact it had attained 
in 1768, and which it has maintained with honor through vary- 
ing changes and vicissitudes to the present moment. Dr. Smith's 
charge to the graduates, written in his happiest style, he gives 
in part in the Minutes, wherein he observed, he says, among 
things. 

That it is by slow Degrees the Sciences are introduced and established 
in any young Country ; that there is perhaps scarce an Instance, where any 
Seminary of Learning although patronized and supported by Princes, hath, 
in the same space of Time come to equal Perfection, with the College of 
Philadelphia, although at first begun only by a few private Gentlemen. 
That he had found it seventeen ago just in its Infancy ; that amid the 
Tumults of War and many other Circumstances unfavorable to Literature, 
it had, during that period, been constantly growing in Usefulness and Rep- 
utation, that numerous and illustrious Benefactors had been raised up for 
its support, that all the Branches of Science were now professed and 
taught in it on so liberal a Foundation, that it would be entitled not merely 
to the name of a College, but of an University, in any Part of the World; 
that not only Professorships in the Languages, Mathematics, Philosophy, etc; 
but in the different branches of Physic, were established in it, and that 
this Day saw the whole plan compleat, as several Gentlemen, who had 
been regularly educated in the Study of Physic, and admitted to their first 
Degrees in this Seminary, were now, after three years reputable and suc- 
cessful Practice, and after giving convincing Specimens of their Abilities, 
thought worthy of being admitted to the Degree of Doctor, the highest 
Honor belonging to their Profession. He added an earnest Exhortation to 
all the Graduates so to acquit themselves through Life, as still to reflect 
fresh Lustre on the Place of their Education ; referring further to what 
might be said by the Gentlemen, who was to give the Medical Charge. 

With two Bachelors in Physic created in 1773, Thomas 
Biddle and David Ramsey, the latter of whom won his Doctor's 
Degree in 1780, we find that but twenty-eight sought this honor 
prior to the dissolution of the College in 1779, and of these four 
only won their Doctor's Degree in that time. It may be that the 
lesser Degree furnished its possessor with sufficient warrant for 
general practice, and the active life thrust upon him in the stir of a 



History of the University of Pennsylvania, 491 

busy population perhaps forbade his continuance in the three 
years course prescribed for a Doctor's Degree. The troublous 
times of the Revolution, of which Philadelphia appeared to be 
the centre, were not propitious to professional research or study 
among the younger people ; but students were not wanting in 
the Medical Faculty, although the year 1780 had arrived before 
the latter could bestow any honors upon them. In that year three 
Bachelors in Physic were created ; in 1781, two; in 1782, eight, 
of whom were James Craik and Caspar Wistar, Jr. ; in 1783, 
three; in 1784, eight; in 1785, nine, of whom Edward Miller 
received the Degree of Doctor in Physic in 1789 ; in 1786, four, 
of whom Moses Bartram received the Degree of Doctor in 
Physic in 1790 and Nicholas B. Waters in 1788 ; in 1787, four; 
in 1788, six, of whom Francis B. Sayre received his Doctorate 
in 1790; in 1789, three; and in 1790, twelve, of whom John 
Laws received his Doctorate in 1797. After 1790, no Degrees 
of Bachelor of Physic were conferred ; the whole number up to 
this time being ninety; of these, but ten continued their studies 
and became entitled to their Doctor's Degree. 

From the absence of any lists of students in the College we 
can only form an estimate of the relative growth of their number 
from the Treasurer's receipts of Tuition fees. While in the year 
1752 these were ^^716.19.9 and in 1753 ^758.19.4, they did not 
rise to £600 per annum until 1760, when they amounted to 
^629.7.6, and in 1761 the figures reached ;^763.i5. While in 
1762 they were ;^6o9. i.io. they were in 1763, ;^9io.2 2, but in 
1764, only ^643.11.7 Some allowance must be made for the 
irregular returns of the Collectors, who were generally the 
younger Tutors, and whose compensation was two and a half 
per cent ; but no annual returns equalled those of 1763 the year 
of Dr. Smith's absence in England. In 1765 they fell below 
^600 ; in 1766 and 1767 they did not exceed ^612 each year; 
but in I y62), the Birth year of Medical honors, which drew greater 
credit to the College, the fees amounted to ^^"751. 12. 6. The 
following three years the annual average was but ^529.4, but in 
1772 they again rose to ;^646.2.3^, The increase in tuition 



492 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

fees required by the depreciating paper currency, made the 
average returns for 1774 and 1775 amount to £']22.^.i. 



Here the Author lays down his pen, hoping, however, 
thai another may carry on the History of this University Family, 
illustrating its varying misfortunes during the Revolutionary strug- 
gle, its quiet life through the first seventy years of this century, arid 
portraying with loving strokes its enlarged and injlucjitial work 
of the present generation, under the strong stimulus of which it is 
prepared to enter upon its great career in the Tiventieth Century. 



APPENDIX. 



A. Proposals relating to the Education of Youth in 

Pennsylvania. 

B. , Proceedings of Philadelphia Councils relating 

TO the Academy 1750-175 i. 

C. Franklin and Johnson Correspondence. 

D. Announcement of Opening of King's College. 

E. Account of College and Academy in The Ameri- 

can Magazine, October, 1758. 

F. List of all the Students entered up to and 

including 1769. 



APPENDIX A. 



Proposals 

Relating to the 

Education 

OF 

Youth 

IN 

Pensilvania 

Philadelphia 

Printed in the Year MDCCXLIX 



Advertisement 

TO THE 

Reader. 

IT has long been regretted as a Misfortune to the Youth of this 
Province, that we have noACADEMY, in which they might receive the 
Accomplishments of a regular Edtication. 

The following Paper of Hitits towards forming a Plan for that Pur- 
pose, is so far approv' d by some publick-spirited Gentlemen, to whom it 
has been privately communicated, that they have Directed a Number of 
Copies to be made by the Press, and properly distributed, in order to obtain 
the Sentiments and Advice of Men of Learning, Understanding, and 
Experience in these Matters ; and have determined to use their Interest 
and best Endeavottrs, to have the Scheme, when co7npleted, carried grad- 
ually into Execution ; in which they have Reason to believe they shall 
have the hearty Concurrence and Assistance of many who are Wellwishers 
to their Country. 

Those who incline to favour the Design with their Advice, either as 
to the Parts of Learning to be taught, the Order of Study, the Method of 
Teaching, the CEconomy of the School, or atty other Matter of hnporta^ice 
to the Sticcess of the Undertaking, are desired to communicate their Senti- 
ments as soon as may be, by Letter Directed to B. Franklin, Printer, in 
Philadelphia. 

Proposals, &c. 

The good Education of Youth has been esteemed by wise Men in all 
Ages, as the Surest Foundation of the Happiness of both private Families 
and of Common-wealths. Almost all Governments have therefore made 
it a principal Object of their Attention, to establish and endow with proper 
Revenues, such Seminaries of Learning, as might supply the succeeding 
Age with Men qualified to serve the Publick with Honour to themselves, 
and to their Country. 



496 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Many of the first settlers of these Provinces, were Men who had 
received a good Education in Europe, and to their Wisdom and good 
Management we owe much of our present Prosperity. But their Hands 
were full, and they could not do all Things. The present Race are not 
thought to be generally of equal Ability : For though the American Youth 
are allow' d not to want capacity ; yet the best Capacities require Cultiva- 
tion, it being truly with them, as with the best Ground, which unless well 
tilled and sowed with profitable Seed, produces only ranker Weeds. 

That we may obtain the Advantages arising from an Increase of 
Knowledge, and prevent as much as may be the mischievous Consequences 
that would attend a general Ignorance among us, the following Hints are 
offered towards forming a Plan for the Education of the Youth of Penn- 
sylvania, viz : 

It is propos'd, 

That some Persons of Leisure and publick Spirit, apply for a 
Charter, by which they may be incorporated, with Power to erect an 
Academy for the Education of Youth, to govern the same, provide Mas- 
ters, make Rules, receive Donations, purchase Lands, &c., and to add to 
their Number, from Time to Time such other Persons as they shall judge 
suitable. 

That the Members of the Corporation make it their Pleasure, and in 
some Degree their Business, to visit the Academy often, encourage and 
countenance the Youth, countenance and assist the Masters, and by all 
Means in their Power advance the Usefulness and Reputation of the 
Design ; that they look on the Students as in some Sort their children, 
treat them with Familiarity and Affection, and when they have behav' d 
well, and gone through their Studies, and are to enter the World, zealously 
unite, and make all the Interest that can be made to establish them, 
whether in Business, Offices, Marriages, or any other Thing for their 
Advantage, preferably to all other Persons whatsoever even of equal 
Merit. 

And if Men may, and frequently do, catch such a taste for cultivating 
Flowers, for Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, and the like, as to despise all 
other Amusements for their Sake, why may not we expect they should 
acquire a Relish for that more useful Culture of young Minds. Thompsoti 
says : 

' Tis Joy to see the human Blossoms blow, 
When infant Reason grows apace, and calls 
For the Kind Hand of an Assiduotis Care ; 
Delightful Task 1 to rear the tender Thought, 
To teach the young Idea how to shoot. 
To pour the fresh Instruction 0' er the Mind, 
lo breathe th' enliv'' ning Spirit, and to fix 
The generous Purpose in the glowing Breast. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 497 

That a House be provided for the Academy, if not in the Town, not 
many miles from it ; the Situation high and dry, and if it may be, not far 
from a River, having a Garden, Orchard, Meadow, and a Field or two. 

That the House be furnished with a Library (if in the Country, if in 
the Town, the Town Libraries may serve) with Maps of all Countries, 
Globes, some mathematical Instruments, an Apparatus for Experiments in 
Natural Philosophy, and for Mechanics ; Prints, of all Kinds, Prospects, 
Buildings, Machines, &c. 

That the Rector be a Man of good Understanding, good Morals, 
diligent and patient, learn' d in the Languages and Sciences, and a correct 
pure Speaker and writer of the English Tongue ; to have such Tutors under 
him as shall be necessary. 

That the boarding Scholars diet jtogether, plainly, temperately, and 
frugally. 

That to keep them in Health, and to strengthen and render active 
their Bodies, they be frequently exercis'd in Running, Leaping, Wrestling, 
and Swimming, &c. 

That they have peculiar Habits to distinguish them from other 
Youth, if the Academy be in or near the Town; for this, among other 
Reasons, that their Behaviour may be the better observed. 

As to their Studies, it would be well if they could be taught every 
Thing that is useful, and every Thing that is ornamental : But Art is 
long, and their Time is short. It is therefore proposed that they learn 
those Things that are likely to be most useful and most ortiamental, Regard 
being had to the several Professions for which they are intended. 

All should be taught to write z.fair Hand, and swift, as that is useful 
to All. And with it may be learnt something of Drawing, by Imitation 
of Prints, and some of the first Principles of Perspective. 

ArithtJtetick, Accounts, and some of the first Principles of Geometry 
and Astronomy. 

The English Language might be taught by Grammar, in which some 
of our best Writers, as Tillotson, Addison, Pope, Algernon Sidney, Catd s 
Letters, &c should be classicks: The Stiles principally to be cultivated, 
being the clear and the concise. Reading should also be taught, and pro- 
nouncing, properly, distinctly, emphatically ; not with an even Tone, 
which under-does, nor a theatrical, which over-does Nature. 

To form their Stile, they should be put on Writing Letters to each 
other, making Abstracts of what they read ; or writing the same Things in 
their own Words ; telling or writing Stories lately read, in their own 
Expressions. All to be revised and corrected by the Tutor, who should 
give his Reasons, explain the Tone and Import of Words, &c. 

To form their Pronunciation, they may be put on making Declama- 
tions, repeating Speeches, delivering Orations, &c. The Tutors assisting 
at the Rehearsals, teaching, advising, correcting their Accent, &c. 



49S History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

But if History be made a constant Part of their Reading, such as 
the Translations of the Greek and Roman Historians, and the modern 
Histories of antient Greece and Rome, &c., may not ahnost all Kinds of 
useful Knowledge be that Way introduced to Advantage, and with Pleasure 
to the Student ? As 

Geography, by reading with Maps, and being required to point 
■out the Places where the greatest Actions were done, to give their old and 
new Names, with the Bounds, Situation, Extent of the Countries con- 
cern' d, &c. 

Chronology, by the Help of Helvius or some other Writer of the 
kind, who will enable them to tell when those Events happened ; what 
Princes were Cotemporaries, what States or famous Men flourished about 
that Time, &c. The several principal Epochs to be first well fix'd in 
their Memories. 

Antient Customs, religious and civil, being frequently mentioned 
in History, will give occasion for explaining them ; in which the Prints of 
Medals, Basso Relievo's, and antient Monuments will greatly assist. 

Morality, by descanting and making continual Observations on 
the Causes of the Rise or Fall of any Man's Character, Fortune, Power, 
&c., mentioned in History ; the Advantages of Temperance, Order, Fru- 
gality, Industry, Perseverance, &c. &c. Indeed the general natural Ten- 
dency of Reading good History, must be, to fix in the Minds of Youth 
deep Impressions of the Beauty and Usefulness of Virtue of all Kinds, 
Publick Spirit, Fortitude, &c. 

History will show the wonderful effects of Oratory in governing, 
training and leading great Bodies of Mankind, Armies, Cities, Nations. 
When the Minds of Youth are struck with Admiration at this, then is the 
Time to give them the Principles of that Art, which they will study with 
Taste and Application. Then they may be made acquainted with the best 
Models among the Antients, their Beauties being particularly pointed out 
to them. Modern Political Oratory being chiefly performed by the Pen 
and Press, its Advantages over the Antients in some Respects are to be 
shown ; as that its Effects are more extensive, more lasting, &c . 

History will also afford frequent Opportunities of showing the 
Necessity of a Publick Religion, from its Usefulness to the Publick ; the 
Advantages of a Religious Character among private Persons ; the Mischiefs 
of Superstition, &c., and the Excellency of the Christian Religion 
above all others antient or modern. 

History will also give Occasion to expatiate on the Advantage of 
Civil Orders and Constitutions, how Men and their Properties are protected 
by joining in Societies and establishing Government ; their Industry 
encouraged and rewarded, Arts invented, and Life made more comfortable : 
The Advantages of Liberty, Mischiefs of Licentiousness, Benefits arising 
from good Laws and a due Execution of Justice, &c. Thus may the first 
Principles of sound Politicks be fixed in the Minds of Youth. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 499 

On Historical Occasions, Questions of Right and Wrong, Justice and 
Injustice, will naturally arise, and may be put to Youth, which they may 
debate in Conversation and in Writing. When they ardently desire Vic- 
tory, for the Sake of the Praise attending it, they will begin to feel the Want, 
and be sensible of the Use of Logic, or the Art of Reasoning to discover 
Truth, and of Arguing to defend it, and convince Adversaries. This 
would be the Time to acquaint them with the Principles of that Art. 
Grotius, Puffendorff, and some other Writers of the same kind, may be 
used on these Occasions to decide their Disputes. Publick Disputes warm 
the Imagination, whet the Industry, and strengthen the natural Abilities. 

When Youth are told, that the Great Men whose Lives and Actions 
they read in History, spoke two of the best Languages that ever were, the 
most expressive, copious, beautiful; and that the finest Writings, the most 
correct Compositions, the most perfect Productions of human Wit and 
Wisdom, are in those Languages which have endured Ages, and will endure 
while there are Men; that no Translation can do them justice, or give the 
Pleasure found in Reading the Originals; that those Languages contain all 
Science; that one of them is become almost universal, |being the Language 
of Learned Men in all Countries; that to understand them is a distin- 
guishing ornament, &c. , they may be thereby made desirous of learning 
those Languages, and their Industry sharpen' d in the Acquisition of them. 
All intended for Divinity should be taught the Latin and Greek ; for 
Physick, the Latin, Greek and French ; for Law, the Latift and French ; 
Merchants, the French, German, and Spanish ; and though all should not 
be compell'd to learn Latin, Greek, or the modern foreign Languages; yet 
none that have an ardent Desire to learn them should be refused; their 
English, Arithmetick, and other Studies absolutely necessary, being at the 
same Time not neglected. 

If the new Universal History were also read, it would give a con- 
nected Idea of human Affairs, so far as it goes, which should be followed 
by the best modern Histories, particularly of our Mother Country ; then of 
these Colonies; which should be accompanied with Observations on their 
Rise, Encrease, Use to Great Britain, Encouragements, Discouragements, 
&c., the Means to make them flourish, secure their Liberties, &c. 

With the History of Men, Times and Nations, should be read at 
proper Hours or Days, some of the best Histories of Nature, which would 
not only be delightful to Youth, and furnish them with Matter for their 
Letters, &c., as well as other History; but afterwards of great use to them, 
whether they are Merchants, Handicrafts, or Divines ; enabling the first the 
better to understand many Commodities, Drugs, &c., the second to im- 
prove his Trade or Handicraft by new Mixtures, Materials, &c., and the 
last to adorn his Discourses by beautiful Comparisons, and strengthen them 
by new Proofs of Divine Providence. The Conversation of all will be 
improved by it, as Occasions frequently occur of making Natural Observa- 



500 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

tions, which are instructive, agreeable and entertaining in almost all Com- 
panies. Natural History will also afford Opportunities of introducing 
many observations, relating to the Preservation of Health, which may be 
afterwards of great use. ArlmtJmot on Air and Aliment, Sanctorius on 
Perspiration, Le^nery on Foods, and some others, may now be read, and a 
very little Explanation will make them sufficiently intelligible to Youth. 

While they are reading Natural History, might not a little Gardeniftg, 
Planting, Grafting, Inoculating, &c., be taught and practised, and now 
and then Excursions made to the neighboring Plantations of the best 
Farmers, their Methods observ'd and reason' d upon for the Information of 
Youth ? The Improvement of Agriculture being useful to all, and Skill 
in it no Disparagement to any. 

The History of Commerce, of the Invention of Arts, Rise of Manu- 
factures, Progress of Trade, Change of its Seats, with the Reasons, Causes, 
&c., may also be made interesting to Youth, and will be useful to all. And 
this with the Accounts in other History of the prodigious Force and Effect 
of Engines and Machines used in War, will naturally introduce a Desire to 
be instructed in Mechanicks, and to be informed of the Principles of that 
Art by which weak Men perform such Wonders, Labour is sav'd, Manu- 
factures expedited, &c., &c. This will be the Time to show them Prints 
of antient and modern Machines, to explain them, to let them be copied, 
and to give Lectures in Mechanical Philosophy. 

With the whole should be constantly inculcated and cultivated, that 
Benignity of Mind, which shows itself in searching for and seizing every 
opportunity to serve and to oblige ; and is the Foundation of what is called 
GOOD BREEDING ; highly useful to the Possessor, and most agreeable 
to all. 

The Idea of what is true Merit, should also be often presented to 
Youth, explain' d and impress' d on their Minds, as consisting in an Incli- 
nation join'd with an Ability to serve Mankind, one's Country, Friends 
and Family; which Ability is (with the Blessing of God) to be acquir'd or 
greatly increas'd by true Learning, and should indeed be the great Aim 
and End of all Learning. 



Note. — Thomson's lines are found near the close of his Spring, and begin : 

By degrees 
The human blossom blows ; and every day, 
Soft as it rolls along, shows some new charm, 
The father's lustre, and the mother's bloom. 
Then infant reason grows apace, and calls 
For the kind hand of an assiduous care, 
Delightful task ! &c., &c., &c. 
The tidings of the poet's death could have reached Franklin but a few weeks 
before making this quotation. — T. H. M. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



501 



APPENDIX B. 



At a Common Council held at Philadelphia for the City of Phila- 
delphia the 30'h Day of July 1750. 



Thomas Lawrence, Esq'', 

WilHam Allen, Esqi-, 

Samuel Hassell 

Edward Shippen 

Benj a Shoemaker y 

Joseph Turner 

Robert Strettell J 



Present. 
Mayor 
Recorder 



Esquires, 
Aldermen. 



Septimus Robeson 
John Mifflin 
John Stamper 
Benj a Franklin 
Tho s Hopkinson 
Phineas Bond 
Tench Francis 
Tho s Lawrence, jun ■■ 
Samuel Rhoads 
George Mifflin 
W"i Coleman 



u 



The Recorder acquainted the Board there is a Design on Foot 
for the Erecting a Publick Academy and Charity School in this City, for 
instructing Youth in the several Branches of useful Learning, And that 
divers of the Inhabitants have subscribed liberally towards it ; But as this 
Undertaking is attended with a great Expence in the Beginning, some 
further Assistance is necessary to carry it into Execution in the best 
Manner. And as this Corporation have a considerable Sum of Money in 
the Hands of their Treasurer, and have likewise an Income of about Three 
Hundred pounds p. Annum, besides Fines and Forfeitures, the Recorder 
proposed that it might be considered, Whether this Design for the Advance- 
ment of Learning, be not worthy of some Encouragement from this Board, 
as their Circumstances may very well afford it. 

The Board having taken this Affair into Consideration, and it appear- 
ing to be a Matter of Consequence, and but a small Number of the Mem- 
bers now present, it was thought proper to referr the further consideration 
thereof to the next Common Council : It is therefore Ordered, That the 
Members of this Board have Notice to meet Tomorrow at four a Clock in 
the Afternoon, to consider of a Proposal of contributing a Sum of Money 
for the Encouragement of the Academy & Charity School now erecting in 
this City. 



502 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 



At a Common Council held at Philadelphia the 31^' Day of July 



1750. 



Thomas Lawrence, Es 
William Allen, Esq^, 

Samuel Hassell 

Anthony Morris 
Joseph Turner 
Robert Strettell 
Edwd Shippen 
Benjamin Shoemaker 
William Plumsted 



Present. 
q r , Mayor 
Recorder 






r u 



u 



Septimus Robeson 
Tench Francis 
Benjamin Franklin 
Samuel M^Call, jun"" 
John Inglis 
William Shippen 
Thomas Bond 
Thos Hopkinson 
Thos Lawrence, jun"" 
Nathi Allen 
Joseph Sims 
George Mifflin 
William Coleman 
John Wilcocks 
John Stamper. 

The Board resumed the Consideration of the Proposal made at the 
last Common Council, of contributing a Sum of Money for the Encourage- 
ment of the Academy & Charity School now erecting in this City ; And a 
Paper containing an Account of what is already done by the Trustees of the 
Academy, and what Advantages are expected from that Undertaking being 
laid before the Board, was read, and follows in these Words : 

, The Trustees of the Academy have already laid out near ^800, in 
the Purchase of the Building, and will probably expend near as much more 
in fitting up Rooms for the Schools, & furnishing them with proper Books, 
& Instruments for the Instruction of Youth. 

, The greatest Part of the Money paid & to be paid is subscribed by 
the Trustees themselves, and advanced by them ; Many of whom have no 
children of their own to educate, but act from a View to the Publick Good, 
without Regard to sect or party. And they have engaged to open a Charity 
School within two Years for the Instruction of Poor Children gratis, in 
Reading, Writing and Arithmetick, and the first Principles of Virtue and 
Piety. 

The Benefits expected from this Institution are : 

, I. That the Youth of Pensilvania may have an Opportunity of 
receiving a good Education at home, and be under no necessity of going 
abroad for it ; Whereby not only considerable Expense may be saved to 
the Country, but a stricter Eye may be had over their morals by their 
Friends and Relations. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 503 

2, That a Number of our Natives will be hereby qualified to bear Magis- 
tracies, and execute other public offices of Trust, with Reputation to them- 
selves & Country ; there being at present great Want of Persons so quali- 
fied in the several Counties of this Province. And this is the more 
necessary now to be provided for by the English here, as vast Numbers of 
Foreigners are yearly imported among us, totally ignorant of our Laws, 
Customs, and Language. 

, 3. That a Number of the poorer Sort will hereby be quahfied to 
act as Schoolmasters in the Country, to teach Children Reading, Writing, 
Arithmetic, and the Grammar of their Mother Tongue ; and being of good 
morals and known character, may be recommended from the Academy to 
Country Schools for that purpose ; The Country suffering at present very 
much for want of good Schoolmasters, and oblig'd frequently to employ in 
their Schools, vicious imported Servants, or concealed Papists, who by 
their bad Examples and Instructions often deprave the Morals or corrupt 
the Principles of the Children under their Care . 

, 4. It is thought that a good Academy erected in Philadelphia, a 
healthy place where Provisions are plenty, situated in the Center of the 
Colonies, may draw numbers of Students from the neighbouring Provinces, 
who must spend considerable Sums yearly among us, in Payment for 
their Lodging, Diet, Apparel, &c., which will be an Advantage to our 
Traders, Artisans and Owners of Houses and Lands. This Advantage is 
so considerable, that it has been frequently observed in Europe, that the 
fixing a good School or College in a litde inland Village, has been the 
means of making it a great Town in a few Years ; and therefore the mag- 
istrates of many Places, have offer' d and given great yearly salaries, to 
draw learned Instructors from other Countries to their respective Towns, 
merely with a View to the Interest of the Inhabitants. 

, Numbers of people have already generously subscribed considerable 
sums to carry on this Undertaking ; but others, well disposed, are some- 
what discouraged from contributing, by an Apprehension, lest when the 
first Subscriptions are expended, the Design should drop . 

,The great Expence of such a Work is in the Beginning. If the 
Academy be once well-open' d, good Masters provided, and good Orders 
established, there is Reason to believe (from many former Examples in 
other Countries) that it will be able after a few years to support itself. 

, Some Assistance from the Corporation is immediately wanted and 
hoped for ; and it is thought that if this Board, which is a perpetual Body, 
take the Academy under their Patronage, and afford it some Encourage- 
ment, it will greatly strengthen the Hands of all concerned, and be a 



504 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

means of Establishing this good Work, and continuing the good Effects of 
it down to our late Posterity. 

The Board having weighed the great Usefulness of this Design, after 
several Propositions heard & debated, agreed That a Sum of Money be 
given by this Board & paid down, towards compleating the Building 
which the Trustees have purchased, and are now fitting up for the 
Purpose ; and likewise, that a Sum or Sums be given yearly by this Board, 
for five Years to come, towards the support & Maintenance of the Schools 
under the Direction of the said Trustees. Whereupon the following 
Questions were put and carried in the Affirmative. 

I . Whether this Board will give the Sum of Two Hundred Pounds, 
to be paid immediately to the Trustees of the Academy, towards compleat- 
ing the Building purchased by the said Trustees for an Academy & Charity 
School in this City ? Which was carried in the Affirmative by a great 
Majority. 

2. Whether this Board will give Fifty pounds p. annum for five years 
next ensuing, to The Trustees of The Academy, towards supporting a 
Charity School for the Teaching of poor Children Reading, Writing and 
Arithmetick ? 

Which was unanimously agreed to. 

3. Whether this Board will give Fifty Pounds p. annum for the five 
"years next ensuing, to the Trustees of the Academy, for the Benefit thereof, 
with Condition that this Board shall have a Right of nominating and send- 
ing one Scholar Yearly from the Charity School, to be instructed gratis 
in the Academy , in any or all of the Branches of Learning there taught ? 
Which was carried in the Affirmative by a great Majority. 

At a Common Council held for the City of Philadelphia the 21st Day 
of March, 1750-51. 

Present 

Common Council Men 
William Plumsted, Esq^e, Mayor Joshua Maddox 

Tench Francis, Esq''^, Recorder Samuel Rhoads 

Robert Strettell "^ John Stamper 

Anthony Morris ^ S Israel Pemberton 

Thomas Lawrence V "- § Joseph Morris 

Edward Shippen ^ 2 Benjamin Franklin 

Samuel Hasell J "^ William Logan 

George Mifflin 
William Coleman 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 505 

Alderman Lawrence acquainted the Board that the Sum of One Hun- 
dred Pounds is due to him from this Corporation, being his Salary as 
Mayor of this City for the last Year, pursuant to a Vote of this Board of 
the 1 8th of September, 1747, whereby it was resolved that such Salary 
should be paid to the Mayor of this City for the three Years then next 
ensuing ; And that, as some late Mayors, in lieu of an Entertainment, had 
given a Sum of Money for some publick Use, he was inclined to follow the 
Example, and proposed to give the Sum of One Hundred Pounds for the 
Use of the Academy in this City ; which Proposal was approved of by a 
great Majority ; And at Alderman Lawrence's Request, the Treasurer of 
this Corporation is order' d to pay the said Sum to William Coleman in 
Behalf of the Trustees of the said Academy, for the Use aforesaid. 



5o6 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 
APPENDIX C. 



Berkeley, Johnson, and Franklin CoRRESPONnENCE. 
From Ur. Beardsley's Life of Samuel Johnson, D. D. 

Bishop Berkeley to Dr. Johnson. 

CloyviQ, Atigtist 22,, 1749. 

Rev. Sir, — I am obliged for the account you have sent me of the 
prosperous estate of learning in your College of New Haven, I approve 
of the regulations made there, and am particularly pleased to find your 
sons have made such a progress as appears from their elegant address to 
me in the Latin tongue. It must indeed give me a very sensible satisfac- 
tion to hear that my weak endeavors have been of some use and service to 
that part of the world. I have two letters of yours at once on my hands 
to answer, for which business of various kinds must be my apology. As 
to the first, wherein you inclosed a small pamphlet relating to tar-water, I 
can only say in behalf of those points in which the ingenious author 
seems to dissent from me, that I advance nothing which is not grounded 
on experience, as may be seen at large in Mr. Prior's narrative of the 
effects of tar-water, printed three or four years ago, and which may be 
supposed to have reached America. 

For the rest, I am glad to find a spirit towards learning prevail in 
those parts, particularly New York, where you say a College is projected, 
which has my best wishes. At the same time I am sorry that the condi- 
tion of Ireland, containing such numbers of poor uneducated people, for 
whose sake Charity Schools are erecting throughout the kingdom, obligeth 
us to draw charities from England ; so far are we from being able to extend 
our bounty to New York, a country in proportion much richer than our 
own. But as you are pleased to desire my advice upon this undertaking, 
I send the following hints to be enlarged and improved by your own 
judgment. 

I would not advise the applying to England for charters or statutes 
(which might cause great trouble, expense, and delay), but to do the busi- 
ness quietly within themselves. 

I believe it may suffice to begin with a President and two Fellows. 
If they can procure but three fit persons, I doubt not the college from the 
smallest beginnings would soon grow considerable : I should conceive good 
hopes were you at the head of it. 

Let them by all means supply themselves out of the seminaries in 
New England (who are willing to go) worth sending. 

Let the Greek and Latin classics be well taught. Be this the first 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 507 

care as to learning. But the principle care must be good life and morals 
to which (as well as to study) early hours and temperate meals will much 
conduce. 

If the terms for degrees are the same as in Oxford and Cambridge, 
this would give credit to the College, and pave the way for admitting their 
graduates ad eundeni in the English Universities. 

Small premiums in books, or distinctions in habit, may prove useful 
encouragements to the students. 

I would advise that the building be regular, plain, and cheap, and 
that each student have a small room (about ten feet square) to himself. 

I recommended this nascent seminary to an English bishop, to try 
what might be done there. But by his answer it seems the colony is 
is judged rich enough to educate its own youth. 

Colleges from small beginnings grow great by subsequent bequests 
and benefactions. A small matter will suffice to set one a going. And 
when this is once well done, there is no doubt that it will grow and thrive. 
The chief concern must be to set out in a good method, and introduce, 
from the very first, a good taste into the society. For this end the princi- 
pal expense should be in making a handsome provision for the President 
and Fellows. 

1 have thrown together these few crude thoughts for you to ruminate 
upon, and digest in your own udgment, and propose from yourself, as you 
see convenient. 

My correspondence with patients who drink tar water, obliges me to 
be less punctual in corresponding with my friends. But 1 shall be always 
glad to hear from you. My sincere good wishes and prayers attend you 
in all your laudable undertakings. 

I am your faithful, humble servant, 

G. Cloyne. 

Mr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson. 

Philadelphia, Atig. 9, 1750. 

Rev. Sir, — At my return home I found your favor of June the 28th, 
with the Bishop of Cloyne' s letter inclosed, which I will take care of, and 
beg leave to keep a little longer. 

Mr, Francis, our Attorney General, who was with me at your house, 
from the conversation then had with you, and reading some of your pieces, 
has conceived an esteem for you equal to mine. The character we have 
given of you to the other trustees, and the sight of your letters relating to 
the academy, has made them very desirous of engaging you in that design, 
as a person whose experience and judgment would be of great use in form- 
ing rules and establishing good methods in the beginning, and whose name 
for learning would give it a reputation. We only lament, that in the 
infant state of our funds, we cannot make you an offer equal to your merit. 



5o8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

But as the view of being useful has most weight with generous and benevo- 
lent minds, and in this affair you may do great service not only to the 
present but to future generations, I flatter myself sometimes that if you 
were here, and saw things as they are, and conversed a little with our 
people, you might be prevailed with to remove. I would therefore earnestly 
press you to make us a visit as soon as you conveniently can ; and in the 
mean time let me represent to you some of the circumstances as they 
appear to me. 

1. The Trustees of the Academy are applying for a charter, which 
will give an opportunity of improving and modeling our Constitution in 
such a manner as, when we have your advice, shall appear best. I suppose 
we shall have power to form a regular college. 

2. If you would undertake the management of the English Education, 
I am satisfied the trustees would, on your account, make the salary ^loo 
sterling, (they have already voted ^150 currency which is not far from it), 
and pay the charge of your removal. Your son might also be employed 
as tutor at ^60 or perhaps ^70 per annum. 

3. It has been long observed, that our church is not sufficient to 
accommodate near the number of people who would willingly have seats 
there. The buildings increase very fast towards the south end of the town, 
and many of the principal merchants now live there ; which being at a 
considerable distance from the present church, people begin to talk much 
of building another, and ground has been offered as a gift for that purpose. 
The Trustees of the Academy are three fourths of them members of the 
Church of England, and the rest men of moderate principles. They have 
reserved in the building a large hall for occasional preaching, public 
lectures, orations, etc. ; it is 70 feet by 60, furnished with a handsome 
pulpit, seats, etc. In this Mr. Tennent collected his congregation who are 
now building him a meeting-house. In the same place, by giving now 
and then a lecture, you might, with equal ease, collect a congregation that 
would in a short time build you a church, if it should be agreeable to you. 

In the mean time, I imagine you will receive something considerable 
yearly, arising from marriages and christenings in the best families, etc., 
not to mention presents that are not unfrequent from a wealthy people to a 
minister they like ; and though the whole may not amount to more than a 
due support, yet I think it will be a comfortable one. And when you are 
well settled in a church of your own, your son may be qualified by years 
and experience to succeed you in the Academy ; or if you rather choose to 
continue in the Academy, your son might probably be fixed in the Church. 

These are my private sentiments which I have communicated only to 
Mr. Francis, who entirely agrees with me. I acquainted the trustees that 
I would write to you, but could give them no dependence that you would 
be prevailed on to remove. They will, however, treat with no other till I 
have your answer. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 509 

You will see by our newspaper, which I inclose, that the Corporation 
of this city have voted ^200 down and ^100 a year out of their revenues 
to the Trustees of the Academy. As they are a perpetual body, choosing 
their own successors, and so not subject to be changed by the caprice of a 
governor or of the people, and as 18 of the members (some the most 
leading) are of the trustees, we look on this donation to be as good as so 
much real estate ; being confident it will be continued as long as it is well 
applied, and even increased, if there should be occasion. We have now 
near _;^5,ooo subscribed, and expect some considerable sums besides may 
be procured from the merchants of London trading hither. And as we are 
in the centre of the Colonies, a healthy place, with plenty of provisions, 
we suppose a good Academy here may draw numbers of youth for educa- 
tion from the neighboring Colonies, and even from the West Indies. 

I will shortly print proposals for publishing your pieces by subscrip- 
tion, and disperse them among my friends along the continent My 
compliments to Mrs. Johnson and your son ; and Mr, and Mrs. Walker 
your good neighbors. 

I am, with great esteem and respect. Sir, 

Your most humble servant, 

B. Franklin. 

P. S. — There are some other things best treated of when we have the 
pleasure of seeing you. It begins now to be pleasant travelling. I wish 
you would conclude to visit us in the next month at farthest. Whether 
the journey produce the effect we desire or not, it shall be no expense to 
you. 

Dr. Peters to Dr. Johnson. 

Philadelphia, Aug. 6, 1750. 
Reverend Sir, — I am obliged to you for the honor you did me in 
your compliments by Mr. Franklin and Mr. Francis. They said so many 
good things of your abilities and inchnations to promote useful knowledge, 
and the Trustees of the Academy are so much in want of your advice and 
assistance, that, though personally unknown to you, I must take the free- 
dom, from a hint that such a journey would not be disagreeable to you, to 
give you an invitation to my house. Let me, good Sir, have the pleasure 
of conversing with a gentleman whose character I have a long time esteemed, 
and provided your journey be not between the 20th October and ist Novem- 
ber, when I am obhged to attend the Governor and Assembly at New 
Castle, I will meet you at Trenton or Brunswick, or any other place you 
shall appoint. I will tell you beforehand, that can my friends or I find any 
expedient to engage your residence among us, I will leave nothing unat- 
tempted in the power of. Reverend Sir, 

Your affectionate brother and humble servant, 

Richard Peters. 



5 TO History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Johnson to Dr. Peters, 
(from Dr. Johnson's draft.) 

Aug-. 1 6, 
Sir, — I am extremely obliged to you for the honor you have done 
me in writing so kind and polite a letter to me, who am a perfect stranger 
to you, a person whose real character I doubt you will find much below 
what the candor of the openly friendly gentlemen have represented. You 
will see by my letter to Mr. Franklin what difficulties lie in my way with 
regard to my residence among you, which otherwise would, doubtless, be 
vastly agreeable to me. However, as I do think in earnest, if practicable, 
to make a tour to Philadelphia in acknowledgment of the great kindness 
you express towards me, I shall most gratefully accept of your kind invita- 
tion, and let you know beforehand when to expect me. If I can come at 
all it will be before the time you mention, but I would first see my brethren 
here together at our Commencement on the 2d week in Sept., by convers- 
ing with whom I shall be the better able to make adjustment whether a 
remove would be practicable. Meantime, 

I remain. Sir, etc., 

S. J. 

Mr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson. 

Philadelphia, At(£: 23, 1750. 

Dear Sir, — We received your favor of the i6th inst. Mr. Peters 
will hardly have time to write to you per this post, and I must be short. 
Mr Francis spent the last evening with me, and we were all glad to hear 
that you seriously meditate a visit after the middle of next month, and that 
you will inform us by a line when to expect you. We drank your health 
and Mrs Johnson' s, remembering your kind entertainment of us at Strat- 
ford. 

I think, with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public 
weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and 
good men are, in my opinion, the strength of a State much more so than 
riches or arms, which, under the management of ignorance and wicked- 
ness, often draw on destruction, instead of providing for the safety of the 
people. And though the culture bestowed on w/a/y should be successful 
only with a /fw, yet the influence of those few, and the service in their 
power, may be very great. Even a single woman, that was wise by her 
wisdom saved a city. 

I think, also, that general virtue is more probably to be expected and 
obtained from the education of youth than from the exhortation of adult 
persons; bad habits and vices of the mind being, like diseases of the body, 
more easily prevented than cured. I think, moreover, that talents for the 
education of youth are the gift of God; and that he on whom they are 
bestowed, whenever a way is opened for the use of them, is as strongly 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 511 

tailed as if he heard a voice from heaven. Nothing more surely pointing 
out duty, in a public service, than ability and opportunity of performing it. 

I have not yet discoursed with Dr. Jenney concerning your removal 
hither. You have reason, I own, to doubt whether your coming on the 
foot I proposed would not be disagreeable to him, though I think it ought 
not. For should his particular interest be somewhat affected by it, that 
ought not to stand in competition with the general good ; especially as it 
cannot be much affected, he being old, and rich, and without children. I 
will however learn his sentiments before the next post. But, whatever influ- 
ence they might have on your determinations about removing, they need 
have none on your intention of visiting. And if you favor us with the 
visit, it is not necessary that you should previously write to him to learn 
his dispositions about your removal, since you will see him, and when we 
are all together those things may be better settled in conversation than by 
letters at a distance. Your tenderness of the Church's peace is truly laud- 
able; but, methinks, to build a new church in a growing place is not 
properly dividing but vinltiplyijig ; and will really be a means of increas- 
ing the number of those who worship God in that way. Many who cannot 
now be accommodated in the church go to other places or stay at home ; 
and if we had another church, many, who go to other places or stay at 
home, would go to church. I suppose the interest of the Church has been 
far from suffering in Boston by the building of two churches there in my 
memory. I had for several years nailed against the wall of my house, a 
pigeon -box that would hold six pair; and though they bred as fast as my 
neighbor's pigeons, I never had more than six pair; the old and strong 
driving out the young and weak, and obliging them to seek new habita- 
tions. At length I put up an additional box, with apartments for enter- 
taining twelve pair more, and it was soon filled with inhabitants, by the 
overflowing of my first box and of others in the neighborhood. This I 
take to be a parallel case with the building of a new church here. 

Your years, I think, are not so many as to be an objection of any 
weight, especially considering the vigor of your constitution. For the 
small-pox, if it should spread here, you might inoculate with great proba- 
bility of safety ; and I think that distemper generally more favorable here 
than further northward. Your objection about the politeness of Philadel- 
phia, and your imagined rusticity, is mere compliment ; and your diffidence 
of yourself absolutely groundless. My humble respects, if you please, to 
your brethren at the Commencement. I hope they will advise you to what 
is most for the good of the whole, and then I think they will advise you to 
move hither. 

Please to tender my best respects and service to Mrs. Johnson and 
your son. 

I am, dear Sir, 

Your obliged and affectionate, humble serv ' , 

B. Franklin. 



512 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson. 

Dear Sir, — I am sorry to hear of your illness. If you have not been 
used to the fever-and-ague let me give you one caution. Don't imagine 
yourself thoroughly cured, and so omit the use of the bark too soon. 
Remember to take the preventing doses faithfully. If you were to continue 
taking a dose or two every day for two or three weeks after the fits have 
left you, 'twould not be amiss. If you take the powder mixed quick in a 
tea-cup of milk, 'tis no way disagreeable, but looks and even tastes like 
chocolate. 'Tis an old saying : That an ounce of prevention is worth a 
pound of cure, — and certainly a true one, with regard to the bark ; a little 
of which will do more in preventing the fits than a great deal in removing 
them . 

But if your health would permit I should not expect the pleasure of 
seeing you soon. The small-pox spreads apace, and is now in all quarters; 
yet as we have only children to have it, and the Doctors inoculate apace, I 
believe they will soon drive it through the town ; so that you may possibly 
visit us with safety in the spring. In the meantime we should be glad to 
know the result you came to after consulting your brethren at the Com- 
mencement. Messrs. Peters and Francis have directed me on all occa- 
sions to present their compliments to you. Please to acquaint me if you 
propose to make any considerable additions to the "Ethics," that I may 
be able in the proposals to compute the bigness of the book. 

I am, with sincere esteem and respect, dear Sir, 

Your most obliged humble servant, 

B. Franklin. 
Philadelphia, September 13, 1750. 

Inclosed I return the good Bishop's letter with thanks. 

Mr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson. 

Philadelphia, December 2/\^, 175 1. 

Dear Sir, — I received your favor of the i ith inst. and thank you for 
the hint you give of the omission in the ' • Idea. ' ' The * ' Sacred Classics ' ' 
are read in the English school, though I forgot to mention them . And I 
shall propose at the meeting of the Schools, after the Holidays, that the 
English master begin and continue to read select portions of them daily 
with the prayers as you advise. 

But if you can be thus useful to us at this distance, bow much more 
might you be so if you were present with us, and had the immediate 
inspection and government of the schools. I wrote to you in my last that 
Mr Martin our Rector died suddenly of a quinsy. His body was carried 
to the Church, respectfully attended by the trustees, all the masters and 
scholars in their order, and a great number of the citizens, Mr. Peters 
preached his funeral sermon, and gave him the just and honorable char- 
acter he deserved. The schools are now broke up for Christmas, and will 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 513 

not meet again till the 7th of January. Mr. Peters took care of the Latin 
and Greek School after Mr. Martin' s death till the breaking up. And Mr. 
Allison, a dissenting minister, has promised to continue that care for a 
month after their next meedng. Is it impossible for you to make us a visit 
in that time ? I hope by the next post to know something of your senti- 
ments, that I may be able to speak more positively to the Trustees con- 
cerning the probability of your being prevailed with to remove hither. 

The English master is Mr. Dove, a gentleman about your age, who 
formerly taught grammar sixteen years at Chichester in England. He is 
an excellent master, and his scholars have made a surprising progress. 

I shall send some of the "CEconomies" to Mr. Havens per next post. 
If you have a spare one of your "Essays on the Method of Study," the 
English edition, please to send it me. 

My wife joins in the compliments of the season to you and Mrs. 
Johnson, with, dear Sir, 

Your affectionate humble servant, 

B. Franklin. 

Dr. Johnson to Mr. Franklin. 
(From Dr. Johnson's Draft.) 

Dear Sir, — I now write my most thankful acknowledgments for 
your two kind letters of December 24 and January 8, and have received 
your most obliging letters of the summer before last, to which you refer 
me. There was one of August 23, to which I did not make a particular 
reply by reason of my illness at that time. In that you reasoned, I own, 
in a very forcible manner upon the head of duty. You argued that ability, 
with opportunity, manifestly pointed out duty, as though it were a voice 
from Heaven. This, Sir, I agree to, and therefore have always endeavored 
to use what little ability I have that way in the best manner I could, having 
never been without pupils of one sort or other half year at a time, and 
seldom that, for thirty-eight years. And, thank God, I have the great satisfac- 
tion to see some of them in the first pulpits, not only in Connecticut, but also 
in Boston and New York, and others in some of the first places in the land. 
But I am now plainly in the decline of life, both as to activity of body and 
vigor of mind, and must, therefore, consider myself as being an Emeritiis, 
and unfit for any new situation in the world or to enter on any new business, 
especially at such a distance from my hitherto sphere of action and my 
present situation, where I have as much duty on my hands as I am capable 
of and where my removal would make too great a breach to be counter- 
vailed by any good I am capable of doing elsewhere, for which I have but a 
small chance left for much opportunity. So that I must beg my good 
friends at Philadelphia to excuse me, and I pray God they may be directed 
to a better choice . And as Providence has so unexpectedly provided so 



514 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

worthy a person as Mr. Dove for your other purpose, I hope the same good 
Providence will provide for this. I am not personally acquainted with Mr. 
Winthrop, the Professor at Cambridge, but what I have heard of him, 
perhaps he might do. But I rather think it would be your best way to try 
if you cannot get some friend and faithful gentleman at home, of good 
judgment and care, to inquire and try if some worthy Fellow of one or 
other of the Universities could not be obtained. Perhaps Mr. Peters or 
Mr. Dove may know of some acquaintance of theirs, that might do likely : 
dulcius ex ipsis fortibus. Your son intimated that you had thought of a 
voyage home yourself ; if you should you might undoubtedly look out a 
fit person to be had, and you had better do as you can for some time than not 
be well provided. I could, however, wish to make you a visit in the Spring, 
if the way were safe, but it seems the small-pox is propagating at New York, 
and perhaps you will be scarcely free of it. Meantime you have, indeed, 
my heart with you as though I were ever so much with you in presence, and if 
there were any good office in my power you might freely command it. I 
thank you for sending the two sheets of my "Noetica" which are done 
with much care. I find no defects worth mentioning but what were 
probably my own. At page 62, 1. 19, there should have been a ( ;) after 
"universal," and 1. 2ia(;) after "affirmative." On reviewing the 
former sheets I observe a neglect, p. 30, 1. 24, ' ' on account of which, ' ' 
and p. 36, 1. 3, there should be a (, ) after "is." 

I am very much obliged to you for Short and the Ahnanac and my 
wife for hers. I have had five parcels of the •" (Economies " and Fisher. 
I think you told me they were a dollar each parcel, besides that of Havens, 
who desires you to send him another parcel, and begs you to send one or 
more of your pieces on "Electricity," published in England. By your 
son's account I am much charmed with this, and beg if you have a spare 
copy to send it me. And as you desire a copy of my " Introduction, " 
since I had many sent me from home, I send a half dozen of which with 
my humble service to Messrs: Peters and Francis and your son, pray them 
to accept each a copy. My wife and son, with me, desire our service may 
be acceptable to them and Mrs. Franklin and your son. 

I am, Sir, etc. 

S.J. 

Mr. Franklin to Dr. Johnson. 

Philadelphia, y///)/, 2, — 52. 
Rev. Sir, — 1 have sent you, via New York, twenty-four of your 
books bound as those I sent per post. The remainder of the fifty are 
binding in a plainer manner, and shall be sent as soon as done and left at 
Mr. Stuyvesant' s as your order. 

Our Academy, which you so kindly inquire after, goes on well. 
Since Mr. Martin' s death the Latin and Greek School has been under the 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 515 

care of Mr. Allison, a Dissenting Minister, well skilled in those lan- 
guages and long practiced in teaching . But he refused the Rectorship, or 
to have anything to do with the government of the other schools. So that 
remains vacant, and obliges the Trustees to more frequent visits. We 
have now several young gentlemen desirous of entering on the study of 
Philosophy, and Lectures are to be opened this week. Mr. Allison under- 
takes Logic and Ethics, making your work his text to comment and lecture 
upon. Mr. Peters and some other gentlemen undertake the other 
branches, till we shall be provided with a Rector capable of the whole, 
who may attend wholly to the instructions of youth in the higher parts of 
learning as they come out fitted from the lower schools. Our proprietors 
have lately wrote that they are extremely well pleased with the design, will 
take our Seminary under their patronage, give us a charter, and, as an 
earnest of their benevolence. Five Hundred Pounds sterling. And by 
our opening a Charity School, in which near one hundred poor children 
are taught Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, with the rudiments of reli- 
gion, we have gained the general good will of all sorts of people, from 
whence donations and bequests may be reasonably expected to accrue from 
time to time. This is our present situation, and we think it a promising 
one ; especially as the reputation of our schools increases, the masters 
being all very capable and diligent and giving great satisfaction to all con- 
cerned. I have heard of no exceptions yet made to your work, nor do I 
expect any, unless to those parts that savor of what is called Berkeley- 
anism, which is not well understood here. When any occur I shall com- 
jnunicate them. 

With great esteem and respect, I am, dear Sir, 

Your obliged humble serv't, 

B. Franklin. 



1 6 History of the University of Pennsylvania, 



APPENDIX D. 

Announcement of the Opening of King's College. 

May 31, 1754. 
Advertisement. 

To such Parents as have noiu {or expect to have) children prepared 
to be educated in the College of New York. 

I . AS the Gentlemen who are appointed by the Assembly, to be 
Trustees of the intended Seminary or College of New York, have thought 
fit to appoint me to take Charge of it, and have concluded to set up a 
Course of Tuition in the learned Languages, and in the liberal Arts and 
Sciences ; They have judged it advisable, that I should publish this Adver- 
tisement, to inform such as have Children ready for a College Education, 
that it is proposed to begin Tuition upon the first Day of July next, at the 
Vestry Room in the new School House, adjoining to Trinity Church in 
New York, which the Gentlemen of the Vestry are so good as to favour 
them with the Use of in the Interim, till a convenient Place may be built. 

II. The lowest Qualifications they have judged requisite, in order to 
Admission into the said College, are as follows, viz. : That they be able to 
read well, and write a good legible Hand ; and that they be well versed in 
the Five first Rules in Arithmetic, i. e. as far as Division and Reduction ; 
and as to Latin and Greek, That they have a good Knowledge in the 
Grammars, and be able to make grammatical Latin, and both in con- 
struing and parsing, to give a good Account of two or three of the first 
Orations of lully, and of the first Books of Virgil' s jEneid, and some of 
the first Chapters of the Gospel of St. John, in Greek. In these Books 
therefore they may expect to be examined ; but higher Quahfications must 
hereafter be expected : and if there be any of the higher Classes in any 
College, or under private Instruction, that incline to come hither, they 
may expect Admission to proportionably higher classes here. 

III. And that People may be the better satisfied in sending their 
Children for Education to this College, it is to be understood, that as to 
Religion, there is no Intention to impose on the Scholars, the peculiar 
Tenets of any particular Sect of Christians ; but to inculcate upon their 
tender minds, the great Principles of Christianity and Morality, in which 
true Christians of each Denomination are generally agreed. And as to 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 517 

the daily Worship in the College Morning and Evening, it is proposed 
that it should, ordinarily, consist of such a Collection of Lessons, Prayers 
and Praises of the Liturgy of the Church, as are for the most Part, taken 
out of the Holy Scriptures, and such as are agreed on by the Trustees, to 
be in the best Manner expressive of our common Christianity ; and as to 
any peculiar Tenets, every one is left to judge freely for himself, and to 
be required only to attend constantly at such Places of Worship, on the 
Lord's Day, as their Parents or Guardians shall think fit to order or permit. 

IV, The chief Thing that is aimed at in this College is, to teach and 
engage the Children to know God in Jesus Christ, and to love and serve 
him, in all Sobriety, Godliness and Righteoicsness of Life, with a perfect 
Heart and Willing Mind ; and to train them up in all virtuous Habits, 
and all such useful Knowledge as may render them creditable to their 
Families and Friends, Ornaments to their Country, and useful to the 
public Weal in their Generations. To which good Purposes, it is earnestly 
desired, that their Parents, Guardians, and Masters, would train them up 
from their Cradles under strict Government, and in all Seriousness, Virtue 
and Industry, that they may be qualified to make orderly and tractable 
members of this Society ; — and, above all, that in order hereunto, they be 
very careful themselves, to set them good Examples of true Piety and 
Virtue in their own Conduct. For as Examples have a very powerful 
Influence over young Minds, and especially those of their Parents, in 
vain are they solicitous for a good Education for their Children, if they 
themselves set before them Examples of Impiety and Profaneness, or of 
any sort of Vice whatsoever. 

V. And, lastly, a serious, virtuous, and industrious Course of Life, 
being first provided for, it is further the Design of this College, to instruct 
and perfect the Youth in the learned Languages, and in the Arts of reason- 
ing exactly, of writing correctly, and speaking eloquently ; and in the 
Arts of 7iumbering and measuring; of Surveying and Navigation, of Geog- 
raphy and History, of Husbandry, Commerce and Government, and in 
the Knowledge of all Nature in the Heavens above us, and in the Air, 
Water and Earth around us, and the various kinds of Meteors, Stones, 
Mines and Minerals, Plants and Animals, and of everything useful for the 
Comfort, the Convenience and Elegance of Life, in the chief Manufactures 
relating to any of these Things : And finally, to lead them from the 
Study of Nature to the Knowledge of themselves, and of the God of 
Nature, and their Duty to him, themselves, and one another, and every 
Thing that can contribute to their true Happiness, both here and hereafter. 

Thus much, Geiitlemen, it was thought proper to advertise you of 
concerning the Nature and Design of this College : And I pray God, it 
may be attended with all the Success you can wish, for the best Good of 



5i8 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

the rising Generations ; to which, (while I continue here) I shall willingly 
contribute my Endeavours to the Utmost of my Power, 
W/io am, Gentle^nen, 

Your real Friend, 

And most humble Servant, 

Samuel Johnson. 

TV. B. The Charge of the Tuition is established by the Trustees to 
to be only 25 s. for each Quarter. 

The New York Gazette : or Weekly Post Boy, June 3, 1754. 

This is to acquaint all whom it may concern, that I shall attend at 
the vestry room, in the school-house, near the English-Church on Tues- 
days and Thursdays, every Week, between the hours of nine and twelve, 
to examine such as offer themselves to be admitted into the college. 

S. Johnson. 

The New York Mercury, Monday, July i, 1754. 



HiSTOKY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA 519 

APPENDIX E. 



Account of the College and Academy in 

The American Magazine, October, 1758, p. 630 ut. seq. 
[Written by Provost Smith.] 

To THE Proprietors, &c. 
Gentlemen : 

AMONG your various publications for the Advancement of virtue and 
literature I observe that you have hitherto given no account of the College 
and Academy of this place, altho' you have no doubt been beholden to the 
members of that institution for many of those monthly performances, 
which have been so considerable an ornament to your work. To supply that 
defect you will, therefore, accept from me the following brief and genuine 
account of its Rise, Progress, and present state. 

In the year 1749, a number of private gentlemen, who had long 
regretted it as misfortune to the youth of this province, that we had no 
public Seminary, in which they might receive the accomplishments of a 
regular education, published a paper of hints and proposals for erecting an 
academy in this city. They observed very justly that the good education 
of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages, the surest foundation, 
both of private and public happiness; and that it has been the principal 
concern of every well-regulated government to establish and endow proper 
seminaries for the advancement of learning, and for training up a succes- 
sion of men, fit to serve their country in every useful station. Many of the 
first settlers of these provinces, (it was observed further) were men who had 
received a good education in E^l,rope, and to their wisdom and good man- 
agement we owe much of our present prosperity. Nevertheless, it was 
obvious that without making a provision for cultivating wisdom and good- 
ness in the rising generation, we would soon degenerate into a state of igno- 
rance and barbarity, little better than that of our Neighbour-Savages , and 
be neither able to preserve nor enjoy the inestimable blessings, delivered 
down to us from our fathers. To prevent these dreadful misfortunes, was 
the design of those who projected this institution; a design that will do 
honor to their names as long as any memorial of virtue and letters shall 
remain in their country; and a design in which they can boast all the 
Sages and Lawgivers and Patriots of every age, as their patterns and fellow 
labourers, for the propagation of wisdom and good of their species ! 

This design was not long formed before it was carried into execution. 
At first, only three persons were concerned in forming it, two of whom are 
since dead, and the other now in England. These communicated their 
thoughts to others, till at last the number of twenty-four joined themselves 



520 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

together, as Trustees for carrying on the work, and agreed never to exceed 
that number, which was composed without any regard to difference in reli- 
gious persuasions, of creditable gentlemen of various professions and 
callings . 

The scheme being made public, with the names of the gentlemen 
undertakers, all was so well approved of, that in a very short time the sub- 
scription for carrying it on amounted to Eight Hundred Pounds per annum, 
for five years, a very strong proof of the public spirit and generosity of the 
inhabitants of this place ! In the beginning oi January, 1750, three of the 
schools were opened, namely the Latin School, the Mathematical School 
and the English School, the two former under men who had long been 
known in the country as sufficiently qualified for the business; and the 
latter under a person who, being accidentally in the place, offered his 
service and was accepted for a time upon trial. For it had always been 
considered as a very leading part of the design, to have a good school in 
the mother tongue, and to be well satisfied of the abilities and assiduity of 
the person entrusted with the care of it, before any final agreement, which 
had likewise been made a rule in providing masters for the other schools. 
Oratory, correct Speaking and Writing the Mother Tongue, is a branch 
of education too much neglected in all our English Seminaries, as is often 
visible in the public performances of some of our most learned men. But 
in the circumstances of this province, such a neglect would have been 
still more inexcusable, than in any other part of the British dominions . 
For as we are so great a mixture of people, from almost all corners of the 
world, necessarily speaking a variety of languages and dialects, the true 
pronunciation and writing of our own language might soon be lost among 
us, without such a previous care to preserve it in the rising generation. 

Thus this Seminary opened with three masters in the branches of 
education most immediately necessary to prepare the youth for public life, 
and the higher parts of learning. All the trustees, and a great concourse 
of the inhabitants were present at the Opening when the service of the 
Church of Englatid was read, and a suitable sermon preached by the rev- 
erend Mr. Peters, Provincial Secretary, from St. John viii. 32, And ye shall 
know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you Free. 

This worthy gentleman (who amid all the labours of his pubUc station, 
as well as the many private labours in which his benevolence continually 
engages him, has still made it his care to devote some part of his time to 
Classical Learning and the Study of Divinity, to which he was originally 
bred) took occasion, from these words of our blessed Saviour, to shew the 
intimate connexion between Truth and Freedom, between Knowledge of 
every kind, and the preservation of fzV// and religious Liberty. For it has 
ever been found that where the Former is not, the latter cannot subsist. 

The institution, thus begun, continued daily to flourish, in so much 
that all the schools soon stood in need of ushers and assistants to the chief 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 521 

masters. At length encouraged by such a fair beginning, the Trustees 
applied to the honourable Proprietors for a charter of Incorporation, which 
they obtained in July , 1753. At that time the institution consisted of 
tkree schools above mentioned, and two Charity Schools. 

In the space of about 4 years, from the first opening, it was found 
that many youths, having gone thro' their course of Grammar-Learning, 
would be desirous of proceeding to Philosophy and the Scietices, and must 
depart to other Seminaries unless a provision was made for compleating 
their studies here. This being represented to the Trustees, they began to 
think of enlarging their plan, as they had promised at the beginning. 
They were highly sensible that the knowledge of Words, without making 
them subservient to the knowledge of Things, could never be considered 
as the business of education. To lay a foundation in the Languages, was 
very necessary as a first step, but without the superstructure of the Sciences 
it would be but of little use for the conduct of Life. The bare study of 
words could never be designed as the chief object of man' s reasotiing and 
mtellectual faculties . Our Maher had something more sublime in view; 
and to stop short of that end is to be greatly wanting to ourselves, in a 
matter of the last importance. 

In consideration of this, the trustees determined to complete the 
remainder of their plan, and applied for an Addition to their Charter, by 
which a power of conferring degrees and appointing Professors in the 
various branches of the arts and sciences, was granted to them. By this 
means a College was added to, and ingrafted upon their former Academy, 
a joint government agreed upon for both, the style of the trustees changed 
to that of — "Trustees of the College, Academy and Charity School of 
Philadelphia,'''' and the Professors constituted under them into one body 
•or faculty, by the name of ' ' The Provost, Vice Provost and Professors of the 
College and Academy of Philadelphia.''' This charter was ohXaxn^di May 
14th, 1755. What further relates to the government of this institution 
:shall be mentioned, after giving a view of the plans of education pursued 
in it, which I am to do under two heads. The first shall be the plan of 
education in the college or higher part of the institution, including the 
Latin and Greek schools, which shews the course gone thro' by those 
intended for the learned professions . The second shall be what is properly 
called the Academy, shewing the course of learning intended for those who 
are bred for the mechanic arts and other professions. 

Probably some youths will go thro' these stages in three years, many 
will require four years, and many more may require five years, especially 
if they begin under nine or ten years of age. The masters must exercise 
their best discretion in this respect. 

Those who can acquit themselves to satisfaction in the books laid 
-down for the fourth stage, after public examination, are to proceed to the 
;Study of the sciences, and to be admitted into the College as Freshmen, 



522 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

with the privilege of being distinguished with an under-graduate' s gown. 
The method of study to be prosecuted in the college for the term of three 
years follows in one general view. 

[Given on pp. 236 to 239.] 

Along with this plan, which was first published in Aicgust, 1756, 
and subscribed by the Faculty of masters, the following remarks were 
also published, viz.: "Life itself being too short to attain a perfect 
acquaintance with the whole circle of the Sciences, nothing has ever been 
proposed by any plan of University-Ediication, but to lay such a general 
foundation in all the branches of literature, as may enable youth to perfect 
themselves in those particular parts, to which their business, or genius, 
may afterwards lead them. And scarce any thing has more obstructed the 
advancement of sound learning, than a vain imagination, that a few years, 
spent at college, can render youth such absolute Masters of Science, as to 
absolve them from all future study. ' ' 

"As far as our influence extends, we would wish to propagate a 
contrary doctrine, and tho' we flatter ourselves that, by a due execution of 
the foregoing plan, we shall enrich our country with many Minds, that are 
literally accomplished, and send out none that may justly be denominated 
barren, or unimproved ; yet we hope that the youth committed to our 
tuition, will neither at college, nor afterwards, rest satisfied with such a 
general knowledge, as is to be acquired from the public lectures and exer- 
cises. We rather trust that those, whose taste is once formed for the 
acquisition of Solid Wisdom, will think it their duty and most rational 
satisfaction, to accomplish themselves still farther, by manly perseverance 
in private study and meditation." 

"To direct them in this respect, the last column contains a judicious 
choice of the most excellent writers in the various branches of literature, 
which will be easily understood when once a foundation is laid in the 
books proposed in the plan, under the several lectures. For the books to 
be used as Classics, at the lecture hours, will not be found in this last 
column, which is only meant as a private library, to be consulted occasion- 
ally in the lectures, for the illustration of any particular part ; and to be 
read afterwards for compleating the whole." 

" The last book in the catalogue is the Holy Bible, without which 
the student's library would be very defective. But tho' it stands last, we 
do not mean that they are to defer reading it to the last, it being part of 
our daily exercise, and recommended from the beginning. We only inti- 
mate, by this disposition, that, when human science has done its utmost, 
and when we have thought the youth worthy of the honors of the Semi- 
nary, yet still we must recommend them to the Scriptures of God, in order 
to compleat their Wisdom, to regulate their conduct thro' life, and guide 
them to happiness forever !" 

"In the disposition of the parts of this scheme, a principal regard 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 523. 

has been paid to the connexion and subserviency of the Sciences, as well 
as to the gradual openings of young minds. Those parts are placed first, 
which are suited to strengthen the inventive Faculties, and are instrumental' 
to what follows . Those are placed last, which require riper judgment, and 
are more immediately connected with the main business of life." 

"In the mean time, it is proposed that they shall never drop their 
acquaintance with the classic sages. They are every day called to converse 
with some one of the ancients, who, at the same time that he charms with 
all the beauties of language, is generally illustrating that particular branch 
of philosophy or science, to which the other hours of the day are devoted. 
Thus, by continually drawing something from the most admired masters of 
sentiment and expression, the taste of youth will be gradually formed, to 
just Criticism and masterly Composition.''' 

"For this reason. Composition, in the Strict Meaning of the term, 
cannot be begun at an earlier period than is proposed in the plan. The 
knowledge of Mathematics is not more necessary, as an introduction to 
natural philosophy, than an acquaintance with the best ancient and 
modern writers , especially the Critics , is to just Co7nposition.'" 

' ' Whoever would build must have both the art and and materials of 
building ; and therefore Composition , from one's own stock, is justly 
placed after Criticism, which supplies the art, and not before Moral and 
Natural Philosophy, which enriches the Understanding, and furnishes the 
Materials or Topics for the Work. ' ' 

"Thus it is hoped the student may be led thro' a scale of easy 
ascent, till finally render' d capable of Thi7iking, Writing and Acting well, 
which is the grand aim of a liberal education. At the end of every term, 
there is some time allowed for Recreation, or bringing up slower Geniuses. 

' ' Perhaps, after all, some who see this plan, may think three years 
too scanty a period for its execution. We would not be tenacious of our 
opinion ; but, from an attentive consideration of the business proposed for 
each term, we are inclined to think the time will be sufficient for a mid- 
dling genius, with ordinary application. And where both genius and 
application are wanting, we conceive no time will be found sufficient. 
Experience, however, being the best guide in matters of this kind ; we 
only propose that a fair trial of three years may be made, before anything 
farther is determined upon a subject of such concern." 

' ' Such a trial we think due to the present state of our seminary, as 
well as to the public, and the particular circumstances of these Colonies, 
where very few youth can be detained for a long period at infant unendowed 
colleges, where they must wholly maintain themselves at a considerable 
expence, and where the genius seems not only to be sooner ripe, but where 
there is also a more immediate demand, and a more early settlement to be 
obtained, in all the ways of genteel employment, for Young Men of Parts, 
than there is in European Countries!'' 



524 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

" N. B. The titmost care will be taken for a faithful, exec7ttio7i of 
this plan itt all its parts. The time for admitting Freshmen in the youngest 
philosophy class is Mdiy 15, according to the plati. But those who neces- 
sarily apply later in the first year will obtain Admission, provided it 
appear upon examiiiation that they are sufficietitly grounded in the parts 
laid down in the plan, previous to the date of such their admission ; which 
parts may always be known from inspection, together with the proficiency 
made by the class which they are to join. — The Sentiments of Men of 
Learning will be thankfully received for perfecting the whole , and zipojt a 
Candid application to any of the professors, they will endeavour to explain 
and re7nove any difficidties that may occur to any persons concerning it." 

So far the Professors themselves proceed in their account of the 
College-part, two years after its first erection. I go on to the next branch 
of this institution, which is properly an English Academy, and consists of 
two parts ; an English and Writing School, and a School for the Practical 
branches of the Mathematics. In the Fornicr, besides Writing, the 
children are taugh the Mother-tongue Grammatically, together with a cor- 
rect and just pronunciation. And for attaining this, a small rostrum or 
oratory is erected in one end of the School, and the children are frequently 
exercised in reading aloud from it, or delivering short orations ; while the 
Professor of English and Oratory stands by to correct whatever may be 
amiss, either in their Speech or Gesture. This part of the institution 
is of singular benefit. It corrects unbecoming bashfulness, &c. gives the 
youth presence of mind, habituates them to appearing in public, and 
has been the means of producing many excellent young Orators, that have 
occasionally charmed vast audiences and it is hoped will soon become an 
honour and ornament to their country, in the various stations to which 
they may be called . This attention to public speaking, which is begun 
here, is continued to the end, and especially in the philosophy schools, 
where the youth frequently deliver exercises of their own composition, at 
commencements, examinations and other public occasions. 

The Last branch of this institution consists of two charity schools ; 
in one of which 40 Girls are taught Reading Writing, and Sewing, and 
in the other 60 Boys are taught Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. 

This is a very noble and generous part of the design, and the bene- 
fit done by it to a vast number of poor children, who received the rudi- 
ments of education here to fit them for various sorts of business and 
mechanic arts, is unspeakable. For tho' the number of Boys was only 
intended to be 60, yet it is generally near 80, and wou'd be much greater 
if they could be received. 



Thus, besides 5 Professors that constitute the Facility, and have the 
immediate inspection of the whole, 6 other persons are continually 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 525 

employed in this institution, making 1 1 in all ; by whom 266 students and 
scholars, often more, are instructed ; and all the branches of education 
carried on that are necessary, either for the learned professions, or mer- 
chandise or the mechanic arts and inferior callings. A seminary, on so 
extensive a plan, is nowhere else to be found in this new world, nor in 
many parts of the old; and therefore a sketch of its constitution and gov- 
ernment, and those methods, by which discipline and good order are pre- 
served, among such a variety of schools, students and scholars, may be 
proper on this occasion. And here it will be found that its Government is 
the most ratiojtal z-nd free that can well be imagined, and its Constitution 
has many advantages peculiar to itself. 

The chief power is, by Charter, lodged in twenty-four Trustees, who 
must all be residents not only within the province, but within five miles of 
the city. All matters of higher import are to be decided by their councils 
and direction ; and all Laws are either to be made by them, or receive a 
final sanction from them. 

No student can receive the honors and ordinary degrees of the 
college, without a previous examination in their presence, and a Mandate 
under their privy-seal and the hands of a majority of them. Nor can even 
an hono7'ary Degree be conferred without a like Mandate, under the said 
privy-seal and the hands of at least two-thirds of the whole body ; which 
regulations must ever be a means of preventing a prostitution of those 
degrees and honors to the Illiterate and Undeserving, which should be the 
reward of real Learning and Worth ; a practise too much complained of 
in many other places . 

In order to do their duty as trustees more effectually, they set apart 
the second Tuesday of every month, for visiting and examining the schools, 
conversing and advising with the masters, encouraging the students accord- 
ing to their several degrees of merit, aad making such regulations as may 
be thought necessary. All the schools, high and low, have their turns of 
these visitations ; which are so truly calculated to keep up the spirit of the 
institution, and promote diligence, emulation and good behaviour among 
the scholars, that ' tis hoped none who accept the office of a Trustee ^^\\\ 
ever be slack in their attendance, when health and other business will 
permit. Besides these stated meetings, their president* who is chosen 
annually, has a power of caUing other meetings on any particular occasion. 
The present trustees are the following gentlemen, viz. 

James Hamilton, William Allen, John Inglis, William Masters, 
Samuel M' Call, jun., Joseph Turner, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Leech, 
William Shippen, Robert Strettell, Philip Syng, Phineas Bond, Richard 
Peters, Abraham Taylor, Thomas Bond, Joshim Maddox, William Plum- 
sted, Thomas White, William Coleman, Thomas Cadwalader, Alexander 
Stedman, John Mifflin, Benjamin Chew, and Edward Shippen, junior. 

* The present President of Ti'ustees is Richard Peters, Esq 



526 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Under these trustees, the principal masters are constituted into a 
Facicliy, or learned body, with all the powers necessary for the ordinary 
government of the schools and good education of the youth. They are 
to meet, in Faculty, at- least once in every two weeks, and at such other 
times as the Provost, or senior member present, shall think fit to call them, 
or any two members desire him to do. At these meetings they are to 
enquire into the state of the schools and see that the several plans of edu- 
cation be regularly carried on, and the laws of the institution duly executed 
and observed. They have also power to enact temporary Rules and 
Ordinances, to be in force as Lazvs, till the first ensuing meeting of the 
trustees; before whom they are then to be laid, in order to be altered, 
amended or confirm' d, or left probationary for a longer period, or wholly 
laid aside, as they shall think fit. 

By this method, all Laws either do or may take their rise from 
masters, who being daily present in the institution know best what regula- 
tions and orders may be wanted. At the same time, as these regulations 
are to receive their last sanction from the Trustees, who are men of experi- 
ence, weight and probity, and have children of their own to educate, we 
may be certain that nothing can obtain the force of a Standing Law but 
what is found salutary and good upon trial. By the present rules, the 
faculty meets every Thursday noon, and all the schools are assembled in 
order to examine the weekly roll, and call delinquents to account. As 
several youth are too big for corporal punishment, there are small Fines 
by the laws agreeable to the nature of the offence, and the custom of other 
Colleges, yet no one need pay any such fine unless he chuses it, but may 
undergo the same punishment as if no such fines had ever been appointed. 
Whatever money is thus raised from the slothful and refractory in Fines, 
is appropriated in rewards to the diligent and obedient; so that any youth 
who has once been a delinquent may have an opportunity of getting back, 
\>Y future care, what he forfeited hy former rve.g\ect. 

These Rewards and PunisJinients are both administered in the most 
public manner ; and in short the whole discipline is so reasonable and 
just, that any youth who might desire to break thro' the rules of this 
institution in his younger years, can hardly be expected to submit to the 
rules of any institution when grown up . 

As to the plan of education, it is already laid down, and has been the 
fruit of much thought. Great care has been taken to comprehend every 
useful branch in it, without being burdensome, or launching into those 
that are unnecessary. The greatest regard possible is also paid to Religion, 
pure Evangelical Religion, untainted by the Dogmas of particular sects or 
persuasions. Prayers and reading the Holy Scriptures are regular every 
day, before the whole youth assembled. Nor is it any objection, but 
rather an advantage particularly for the youth intended for business and 
public life, that the building is within the city. By good rules and good 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 527 

fixample, the Morals of youth may be as easily preserved, in a great and 
well-policied city, as in a small village, if we can suppose any place to 
continue small where such a seminary is once founded. When I speak 
so, I would be understood to mean, when the youth all lodge in the houses 
of their parents, or in lodgings within the walls of the college, which the 
trustees, by their first plan proposed to erect, and will do doubt accomplish 
whenever their funds will permit. 

In this institution, there is a very noble Apparatus for experiments 
in Nattiral Philosophy, done in England by the best hands, and brought 
over from thence, in different parcels, at a very great expence. There 
is also, in the experiment room, an Electrical Apparatus, the property of 
.one of the professors, chiefly his own invention, and perhaps the coni- 
pletest of the kind, now in the world . 

What a blessing must such an institution be to this continent in 
general, and how great an honor to its worthy founders ! What advan- 
tages may not the youth reap in it with common industry, amid so many 
opportunities of improvement and so many incitements to industry ; 
where the Masters transact every thing by joint advice ; where a due 
regard to religion is kept up ; and the whole open to the visitation and 
frequent inspection of a number of gentlemen of rank and character ? 
Who would not chuse rather to see his son in such a seminary, than in any 
obscure corner, under immoral men, habitual Drtinkards, professed 
Gamesters, concealed Papists or others, who never call on the name of 
God in their schools thro' the week, and on his Sabbaths seldom enter his 
holy sanctuary ! And yet, it were to be wished, that some such as these 
may not have been but too successful in deluding unthinking parents to 
,commit an inestimable treasure into the'r hands, namely the education of 
innocent children. 

But to return, the present professors and members of faculty in the 
institution of which I am giving an account are : — 

Rev. William Smith, M. A., Provost of the College and Academy, 
.and Professor of Rhetoric and Nattiral Philosophy. 

Rev. Francis Alison, D. D., Vice Provost of the College, Rector 
of the Academy, and Professor of Logic and Moral Philosophy. 

Rev. Ebenezer Kinnersley, M. A., Professor of English and 
Oratory, and Chief Master of the English School. 

Theophilus Grew, M. A., Professor oi Mathematics, and Master of 
the Mathematical School . 

John Beveridge, M.A., Professor of Languages, and Chief Master 
of the Latin and Greek Schools. 

As to the First of these gentlemen, his name has been so often 
mentioned of late, on many public occasions, that the writer of this would 
leave it to cooler times to declare for or against him. With respect to his 



528 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

abilities, the world have specimens enough in their hands to judge con- 
cerning them. 

The Second gentleman mentioned above has long been employed in 
the education of youth in this province, and many of those who now make 
a considerable figure in it have been bred under him. He was one of the 
first persons in this country, who, foreseeing the ignorance into which it 
was like to fall, set up a regular school of education in it ; and so sensible 
were that learned and respectable body, the University of Glasgow, of his 
pious and faithful labors for the propagation of useful knowlege in these 
untutored parts, that they lately honored him with the degree of Doctor of 
Divinity, sent him without any sollicitation on his part, and even without 
his knowlege. 

As to the Third of the above gentlemen, he is well qualified for his 
profession ; and has moreover great merit with the learned world in being 
the chief inventor (as already mentioned) of the Electrical apparatus, as 
well as author of a considerable part of those discoveries in Electricity, 
published by Mr. Franklin to whom he communicated them. Indeed 
Mr. Franklin himself mentions his name with honor, tho' he has not been 
careful enough to distinguish between their particular discoveries. This, 
perhaps he may have thought needless, as they were known to act in 
concert. But tho' that circumstance was known here, it was not so in the 
remote parts of the world to which the fame of these discoveries have 
extended. 

The Fourth gentleman in the above list has so long been an 
approved teacher of Matlieniatics and Astronomy in this city, that I need 
say nothing to make him better known than he is already. 

The last gentleman, namely Mr. Beveridge, has been already mentioned 
in your magazine iox June. By the specimens he has given, he will undoubt- 
edly be acknowledged one of the ablest masters in the Latin tongue, on this 
continent ; and it is a singular happiness to the institution that on the 
vacancy of a professor of languages, the trustees were directed to such an 
excellent choice, as it must be the certain means of encreasing the num- 
ber of students from all parts, with such as are desirous of attaining the 
Latin tongue in its native purity and beauty. 

Mr. Beveridge, in his younger years, taught a grammar school in the 
city of Edinburgh, under the particular patronage of the great Mr. Rud- 
diman, from whom he has ample testimonies of regard and esteem to 
produce. While in this station the famous Mr. Blacklock, the blind Poet, 
was placed under his care by a number of gentlemen of Edinburgh, who 
discovering uncommon marks of genius in him, were desirous, at their own 
expence, to give him the advantages of an education in the Latin Tongue, 
if by reason of his blindness it could possibly be communicated to him. 
This business Mr. Beveridge soon accomplished, and shewed very par- 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 529 

ticular regard to Blacklock, who in return communicated to him all the 
occasional rough sketches of his poetry. 

Among other pieces done by Mr. Blacklock, while under Mr. Bev- 
eridge s care, his celebrated paraphrase of Psalm CIV, was one, which is 
printed in the Lives of the Poets, Vol. IV., with the following extraordinary 
character : 

' ' This Psalm (say the authors of that work) is one of the sublimest 
"in the whole book of Psalms, and there have been no less than forty 
" different versions and paraphrases of it by poets of considerable emi- 
" nence, who seem to have vied with one another for superiority. But of 
"all these, if we may trust our own judgment, none have succeeded so 
"happily, as Mr. Blacklock, a young gentleman now resident at Dumfries 
' ' in Scotland. This paraphrase is the more extraordinary as the author of 
"it has been blind from his craddle &c. — It carries in it such elevated 
"strains of poetry, such picturesque descriptions, and such a mellifluent 
"flow of numbers, that we are persuaded the reader cannot be displeased 
" at seeing it here, &c. 

This performance Mr. Blacklock also shew'd to Mr. Beveridge for 
his judgment, who told him that he admired it much, but would be still 
better pleased with it, if it could be made shorter, and brought nearer the 
original. Mr. Blacklock replied that he could not make it shorter, and 
begged Mr. Beveridge to try if he could do it. The latter answered that 
he could not write English verse, but he would do a little of it in Latin for 
a trial. He accordingly set about it, and was so much inspired with the 
subject, that, instead of a Part, he soon did the Whole, in the compass of 
about 100 lines, which are one half fewer than are in Blacklock' s Para- 
phrase. As this of Mr. Beveridge' s has never yet appeared in print, I am 
persuaded that not only the readers of your magazine who understand 
Latin, but the learned world in general will be glad to see it. I shall 
therefore subjoin it, and therewith close my account of this useful institu- 
tion, as well as of the Professors and Masters in it ; only adding that what 
is here done is from authentic Materials, and without the privity and 
advice of them or any other persons whatsoever. 

Poetical. 



530 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 
APPENDIX F 



List of 
Scholars Entered 

AT THE 

Academy and College 
up to and including the year 

1769 



Taken from the earliest two 
College Tuition Books 



Note. The names with asterisk are also found in the Biographical Catalogue of 
the Matriculates of the College, published in 1 894. 



Entered By Whom Year. 

Abercrombie, James* Alex"^ Stedman 1766 

Ache, John Lewis William Smith 1754 

Adye, Ralph Lieu : Adye 1768 

Alexander, Adam James Alexander 1762 

Alexander* per se 1762 

James James Alexander. . . 1752 

Robert .... ■. . . William M'llvaine 1752 

William Alexander Alexander 1759 

Alison, Benjamin* Dr. Francis Alison I754 

Benjamin Ashley . . . Do 1759 

Blaney Robert Alison 1768 

Francis * Dr. Francis Alison 1758 

Patrick* per se ^759 

Robert* Robert Alison 1768 

Allaire, Peter Alexander Allaire 1752 

Allee, Jonathan Abraham Allee 1752 

Allen, Andrew* WiUiam Allen, Esq 1751 

Charles Richard Peters, Esq 1755 

James William Allen, Esq 175 1 

John* Do 1 75 1 

WilUam Do 1759 

Ambler, Jaqueline* Do 1758 

Amory, John Capt John Mease 1760 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 531 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Anderson, James . Robert Anderson 1752 

James* Samuel Anderson 1762 

James Monatt . . . . Dr Kearsley, jun'r 1766 

Andrews, John* per se 1763 

Robert* per se 1 764 

Anna, John William Mrs Lindsay 1758 

Annas, John Robert Lindsay 1752 

Apowen, John Capt. Apowen 1760 

Samuel Do 1760 

Armitage, Nathaniel Francis Alison 1756 

Armor, Samuel* ... . , . . Robert Alison 1 769 

Armstrong, Edward* per se 1760 

James John Armstrong 1756 

Arnold, Henry* Samuel Caldwell 1766 

Arrel, David Richard Arrel 1761 

Peter Do 1752 

Ash, Oliver Charles Batho 1762 

Rowland . Do 1762 

Ashfield, Redford Thomas Lawrence, Esq 1763 

Aspden, Matthias Matthias Aspden 1762 

Assheton, Ralph Susanna Assheton 1751 

William William Assheton 1767 

Austin, Isaac Samuel Austin 1762 

William Do 1762 

Ayers, WilUiam 1752 

Badger, Edward George Sharswood I754 

Bagnall, Robert Benjamin Bagnall 1752 

Baker, Benjamin per se 1766 

Ignatius Do 1765 

John William Baker 1752 

Baily, John John Bailey 1761 

Bankson, Andrew Andrew Bankson 1759 

Jacob* Do 1764 

Barbarie, Andrew John Barbarie 1766 

John Do 1766 

Barclay, Robert . .... Alexander Barclay 1758 

Bard, John per se 1758 

John Peter Bard 1760 

Peter Do 1761 

Samuel Do 1751 

Barnhill, Daniel John Barnhill 1768 

John Do 1769 



532 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Barret, John* John Wilcocks 1769 

Bartholomew, Benjamin .... Thomas Bartholomew 1765 

Stephen ... Do 1755 

Bartram, William John Bartram 1752 

Batho, John Charles Batho 1758 

Baxter, Joseph Enoch Story , 1765 

Bayard, James Assheton .... Joseph Richardson ^753 

John Baginham .... Do 1 753 

John Richardson . . . Do ^753 

Bayley, John John Bayley 1766 

Baynton, Benjamin* ^ John Baynton 1753 

John Do 1764 

Peter Do 1764 

Bedford, Gunning ' William Bedford 1752 

Beere, James Jonathan Beer 1767 

Belgrave, William Nicholas Moll 1761 

Bell, Andrew Stephen Carmich 1757 

Andrew John Bell 1765 

Hamilton* Dr Francis Alison 1767 

Patterson* Do 1769 

Thomas James Bell 1761 

William Dr Francis Alison 1767 

Benbridge, Absalom Edmund Benbridge 1756 

Henry Thomas Gordon 175^ 

Benezet, Anthony Daniel Benezet 1760 

John Do 1755 

Samuel James Benezet 1760 

Stephen ...••.. Do 1761 

Bensel, Charles Dr Bensel 1768 

Bevan, Davis Awbrey Bevan 1761 

Biddle, Edward William Biddle 1 751 

Nicholas Mary Biddle 1761 

Thomas Do 1761 

William* 1769 

Bingham James William Bingham I75^ 

John Do 1756 

William* Do 1758 

Bird, Edward Joseph Shippen, Esq 1763 

Marcus Dr James Dove ^753 



^ To 1756, and a Benjamin enters 1764 and continues to '69 as do the follow- 
ing two. 

^To 1756, and a Gunning enters 1766 and continues to '68. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 533 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Bird, William* John Patton 1769 

Bishop, Edward 1763 

Blackburn, Thomas Capt James Child 1760 

Blackwell, James (Evant) . . . John Wilcocks 1765 

Thomas* Do 1769 

Blair, John Capt WiUiam Blair 1752 

Bleakly, John* John Bleakly 1 768 

Bond, John Dr Thomas Bond 1752 

Phineas* Dr Phineas Bond 1756 

Richard Dr Thomas Bond 1758 

Robert Do 1765 

Thomas* Do 1751 

Thomas Dr Phineas Bond 1752 

Bonner, Andrew John Stillwagon 1754 

Borden, Joseph Joseph Borden 1766 

Boude, Joseph Thomas Boude 1751 

Boudinot, Elias Elias Boudinot 1751 

John Do 1 75 1 

Boyd, Samuel* per se 1765 

Bradford, Thomas William Bradford 1751 

William Cornelius Bradford 1762 

William William Bradford ... • ■ . . 1762 

Braithwaite, Thomas per se 1 768 

Bridges, Culpepper Cornelia Bridges . 1755 

Robert Do 1751 

Bright, James Philip Syng 1752 

Brisbane, William Capt James Young 1 767 

Broakhead, Daniel Nicholas Scull 1753 

Brooks, Ebenezer* Capt John Mease 1762 

Brown, Samuel Redmond Conyngham 1758 

Bruin, Peter* William Gallagher 1769 

Buchanan, William Thomas White, Esq 1 760 

Buckley, Joseph Dorsey . . . . Archibald Hilhouse 1755 

Budden, James Capt Richard Budden 1751 

Burnholt, John 1763 

Burroughs, Arthur Capt Arthur Burroughs 1751 

John Do 1 75 1 

Byles, Thomas [Biles?] Thomas Byles 1760 

Byrn, Henry Jonathan Beere 1768 

John Do 1766 

Bywater, William William By water 1761 

Cadogan, Thomas Thomas Willing, Esq 1763 



534 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Etifered By Whom 

Cadwalader, John* Dr Thomas Cadwalader . . . 

Lambert* Do ... 

Caldwell, John Dr Alison 

Campbell, James Anthony Stocker 

John Mrs Campbell 

Peter Dr Farmer 

Cannon, James* per se 

Carlisle, Langton Robert Raulinton 

Carmick, Peter Stephen Carmick 

Carpenter, Miles Harding 

Carson, John* William Carson 

John . William Pyewell 

William Do 

Cartland, Nathaniel 

Caryll, John Reese Meredith 

Chadd, Henry 

Champe, John Amos Strettell 

William Do 

Chapman, Nathaniel* Reese Meredith 

Charleton, Thomas Thomas Charleton 

Cheeseman, Edmund Samuel Cheeseman 

Chew, Benjamin* , Benjamin Chew Esq .... 

John* Dr Thomas Bond 

Philemon Lloyd Dr Adam Thomson 

Samuel Dr Thomas Bond 

Child, James Capt James Childs 

John Do 

Perry Frazer Do 

William Do 

Clampffer, Adam William Clampffer 

Clarkson, Gerardus Rev Gilbert Tennant .... 

Thomas Matthew Clarkson 

Claypoole, Abraham [George] . . James Claypoole 

David Do 

Clayton, Joshua* James Murray 

Clemm, John Mrs Ehzabeth Clemm .... 

William Do .... 

Clifton, William John Clifton 

Clymer, Daniel Capt Daniel Roberdeau . . . 

Coatain, Wilham Capt Thos Coatain . . . . 

Coates, John John Coates 

John . William Plumsted 

Lindsay* John Coates 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 535 

Entered By Whom Year, 

Coates, Septimus John Coates 1764 

William Do 1751 

Collins, William Capt John Willcocks 1757 

Condey, William Benjamin Condey 1767 

Conyngham, Alexander .... Redmond Conyngham 1760 

David Hayfield . . Do 1757 

Robert Do 1760 

Conyers, Joseph Alexander Magee 1756 

Cooke, John* Richard Smith 1757 

Stephen Nathan Cooke 1761 

William per se i7S5 

Coombe, Thomas* Thomas Coombe i754 

Cooper, Henry Alexander Wilcocks 1764 

Corbit, Francis Michael Batho 176 1 

Michael Do 1761 

Correy, John John Correy 1768 

Robert Do 1762 

Samuel Do I757 

William . . . William Correy 1761 

Cottenham, George ... - . . Mr Cottenham of Trenton .... 1766 

Coutanche, Benjamin • . , . . Anthony Stocker i757 

Coutts, James Theophilus Grew 1756 

Coxe, Daniel William Coxe 1752 

Isaac [Cox?] ... ... Thomas Clifford 1761 

John* Do 1760 

John William Coxe 1760 

Tench Do 1761 

William* , Do 1769 

Wiiham Elden Robert Stevenson 1765 

Craig, James James Craig 1760 

John Do 1 761 

Joseph William Craig 1761 

William James Craig 1764 

Crook, Charles* Dr Smith 1769 

Crooke, William* Capt John Wilcocks 1757 

Cruger, John Harris Thomas Lawrence, Esq 1753 

Cruikshank, James Mrs Sayres 1752 

Cummings, John William Craig 1767 

Currie, James Rev Mr William Currie 1757 

Cuthbert, Thomas Thomas Cuthbert 1757 

Darland, John Dr Lloyd Zachary 1752 

Darvil, William Evan Morgan 1755 



536 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

E^itered By Whom Year. 

Davenport, Franklin Josiah Davenport 1763 

David, Ebenezer Enoch David . . . 1765 

Davidson, Robert* 1769 

Davis, Benjamin Benjamin Davis 1765 

George Mrs Plumsted i754 

John* Joseph Davis 1754 

Robert WiUiam Davis 1762 

William Mrs Plumsted 1754 

Deering, John Richard Swan 1757 

Richard [?] 1756 

DeHaven, Hugh Peter DeHaven 1763 

DeLancey, John* per se 1760 

Peter* Do 1760 

Denny, Henry Isaac Cox 1767 

De Normandie, Andrew .... Peter Bard 1756 

James Anthony De Normandie 1761 

Desvories, James Capt James Ross 1768 

Dewees, Farmer William Dewees 1751 

Dexter, Henry* Eleanora Dexter 1754 

James Do 1752 

Dickinson, Philemon* John Dickinson 1751 

Diemer, John Dr John Diemer 1754 

Dillon, Hugh perse 1758 

Doe, Archibald 1758 

D'Oliei, Richard per se 1764 

Donaldson, Hugh . . .... Hugh Donaldson 1762 

John Do 1760 

Joseph Do 1 761 

Dorsey, Basil* Col Thomas White 1751 

Henry Do 1752 

John Hammond .... Samson Levi 1767 

Joseph Buckley .... Archibald Hilhouse 1756 

Dougal, Samuel* per se . . • • • 1 768 

Dougan, Robert Capt John Wilcocks 1757 

Douglas, Richard Jacob Morgan 1766 

Dow, Alexander Dr M' Lean 1761 

Dowers, John Capt. Edward Dowers 1751 

Doyle, Thomas Theophilus Grew 1751 

DuBois, Walter* James James 1760 

Duche, Jacob* Jacob Duche 175 1 

William Anthony Duche 1761 

Duffield, Benjamin* William Duffield 1759 

Dunbavin, Charles John Wilcocks 1751 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 537 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Dunbavin, John John Wilcocks 1751 

Thomas Do 1753 

Duncan, Matthew* . . . . . . Isaac Duncan 1765 

Richard John Malcolm 1757 

William ... .... Isaac Duncan 1765 

Dungan, Thomas* per se 1762 

Dunscombe, Thomas Redmond Cony ngham 1757 

Dupuy, John Mr Dupuy 1759 

Duval, William per se 1766 

Eastburn, Thomas Robert Eastburn 1752 

Easton, Jonathan* per se • 1765 

Edgar, Charles Charles Edgar 1752 

Edmiston, William* Samuel Edmiston 1752 

Edwards, Enoch Alexander Edwards 1768 

John Ann Williams 175 1 

John Capt. Coney Edwards 1752 

William Do 1752 

Ege, George Mr Stiegel 1 766 

Egger, Thomas DrTombe 1763 

Ehrenzeller, Jacob Jacob Ehrenzeller . . ... . . 1762 

Elliot, George Ezekiel Shepherd 1761 

Elligood, Jacob Dr Sam' 1 Preston Moore .... 1754 

Elmer, Jonathan perse 1766 

Elves, Henry Capt Henry Elves 1754 

Emlen, George George Emlen 1756 

Engle, Charles Jacob Hall 1767 

Erwin, James John Erwin 1752 

Evans, Joel* Jonathan Evans 1752 

John per se 1768 

Nathaniel* Edward Evans 1751 

Eve, Oswald Oswald Eve . . . 1764 

Ewing, James • . Dr James Dove 1753 

Faesch, John Rhodolph .... Rev Mr Handchurch 1756 

Fairley, George Jonathan Beer 1767 

Henry Do 1767 

Farley, George Samuel Leacock 1766 

Henry Matthias Sculp 1764 

Farmer, James 175^ 

William Dr Richard Farmer 1751 

Faulkner, Wilham Nestor Faulkner 1757 

Faultner, Ephraim Joseph Faultner 1752 



538 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Ferguson, James* William West 1769 

Fisher, Joseph Samuel Fisher 1761 

Fitzhugh, William Amos Strettell 1755 

Fitzpatrick, John Mrs Graham 1761 

Flag, Henry Collins Ebenezer Kinnersley 17 54 

Fleming, William* perse i759 

Flower, Samuel Capt. Samuel Flower 1760 

Flowers, Benjamin Benjamin Flowers 1761 

Follow, James Ehzabeth Follow 1760 

Francis, John* Tench Francis 1769 

Philip . , Do 1756 

Turbot Do 1751 

Franks, David John Franks 1760 

Moses David Franks 1761 

Fraser, George . Peter Salmon 1752 

Fullerton, Alexander John FuUerton 1756 

John Do 1756 

Gale, Christopher Mrs Hallowell 1760 

Galloway, Benjamin Benjamin Chew Esq 1761 

Gardiner, Theophilus .... Theophilus Gardner 1764 

Gardner, Richard per s ^ 1756 

George, Josuah Dr James Dove 1752 

Sidney* Mr Davidson 1769 

Gibbes, William Rebecca Gibbes 1754 

Gibbon, Francis Grant Gibbon I759 

Gilbert, John Thomas Gilbert 1765 

Giles, James . . .... Capt John Giles 1760 

Glen, John Alexander Lun an 1757 

Goldfrap, James Francis Wade 1767 

Goldsborough, Charles* .... John Dickinson, Esq I757 

Robert* .... Tench Francis i757 

Gordon, Henry Captn Henry Gordon 1769 

James Thomas Gordon 1756 

Peter Capt Henry Gordon 1766 

Gorrel, James Dr James Dove 1752 

Good, George Willm Plumsted 1753 

Gostelowe, George Jonathan Gostelowe 1757 

Jonathan George Gostelowe ^755 

Graham, Joseph Israel Pemberton, jr 1753 

Robert John Inglis 1767 

Grantham, Isaac per se 1762 

Graves, Richard Mrs Gibbs 1752 

Gravill, Samuel Samuel Stilman 1761 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 539 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Gray, Joseph George Gray 1752 

Graydon, Alexander Joseph Marks 1760 

Andrew* Mrs Graydon 1768 

Green, John . . • • Ehzabeth Green 1752 

Joseph Dr Peter Sonsimon 1757 

Rodolphus Capt John Murray 1754 

Greenway, William* Robert Greenway 1751 

Grew Theophilus* Theophilus Grew 1751 

Griffin, Thomas Capt Rankin 1753 

Grime, Mark* John Bell 1756 

Groath, John Henry Groath 1760 

Grove, John Jane Grove 1761 

Hall, Aquila* William White 1768 

David David Hall 1762 

Jacob* Jacob Hall, Esq 1761 

John* Thomas White 1752 

Thomas* Mr John Hall 1761 

William David Hall 1759 

Hallwood, John* John Wilcocks 1768 

Hamilton, Andrew Mary Hamilton 1751 

Charles Rev' d John Hamilton 1768 

Hans* per se 1764 

John John Beveridge 1761 

William* Mary Hamilton 175 1 

Handshew, Henry Mrs Handshew 1765 

Hanson, Alexander Reese Meredith 1761 

Samuel* per se 1769 

Harding, Samuel* James Harding 1769 

Harker, Ahimaaz per se 1764 

Harleston, John Will°i West 1769 

Harper, John John Harper 1764 

Joseph Do 1765 

Harris Charles* Francis Harris 1769 

Oswald Peel* Do 1769 

Robert 175^ 

Harrison, Benjamin Amos Strettell 1755 

Eastwick Enoch David 1761 

Henry Henry Harrison I759 

Joseph* Do 1 76 1 

Matthias* Mrs Harrison 1766 

Hastings, Samuel Samuel Hastings 175 1 

Hathorn, Daniel Daniel Hathorn 1762 



540 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whofn Year. 

Haughn, William Jacob Winey 1760 

Hazard, Ebenezer Samuel Hazard 1751 

Samuel Do 1751 

Hazleton, William Capt Hazleton 1757 

Heaselton, William Bartholomew Penrose 1752 

Heath, James Dr Adam Thomson 1751 

Henry, George* William Henry 1757 

John Mr Jones 1755 

Hicks, Augustine Augustine Hicks 1751 

Charles Edward Hicks 175 1 

Joseph Augustine Hicks 1751 

Hill, Benjamin Nicholas Moll 1761 

John John Hill 1762 

Whitmel* Samuel Orme I757 

Hillegas, Michael Samuel Hillegas 

Samuel Michael Hillegas 

Hindman, William* Mr Alison 

Hinshelwood, Thomas Robert Hinshelwood .... ■ . 

Hockley, William Richard Hockley 

Hodge, Hugh Hugh Hodge 

Hogland, Benjamin Derich Hogland 

HoUingshead, Thomas 

William* William HoUingshead 

Holwood, John John Wilcocks 

Hood, Thomas John Hood 

Hook, Christian Andrew Hook 

Hooper, James* Dr Peter Sonsman 

Robert Do 

Hoops, David Adam Hoops 

Robert Do 

Hooton, Thomas Thomas Hooton 

Hopkinson, Francis* Thomas Hopkinson, Esq . . . 

Thomas* Mary Hopkinson 

Hopper, William* 

House, George Capt Samuel House 

Samuel Mrs House 

Houston, Alexander Alexander Houston 

Thomas George Houston 

Howell, Richard Letitia Howell 

Samuel Samuel Howell 

Huddell, William Joseph Huddell 

Hughes, Hugh* John Hughes 

Samuel Thomas Riche 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 541 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Hulings, Jonathan Michael Hulings 1751 

Humphreys, Assheton James Humphreys 17 59 

James* Do 1759 

Hunt, Isaac- Thomas Gilbert I757 

John, Charles Williams I757 

Richard Glover Hunt 1767 

Hunter, Samuel , C apt John Murray 175^ 

William Benjamin Franklin ..... . . 1764 

Huston, Alexander Alexander Huston 1768 

George John Inglis I755 

James* James Huston 175^ 

John* perse I759 

Thomas , George Huston 1 760 

Hutchins, Joseph* John Howard I759 

Hutchinson, Richard . . . • . . Redmond Conyngham 1758 

Hyde, William Joseph Marriott 1762 

Hyrne, William* William West 1769 

Ibyson, William Capt James Coultas 1751 

Imlay, William ^759 

Ingham, John Jonathan Ingham 1753 

Inglis, George John Inglis i757 

John Do 175 1 

Samuel Do 1752 

Irish, Nathaniel William Allen, Esq I75i 

Jackman, Nathaniel Samuel Osborne 1759 

Philip Do . 1759 

Jackson, John M Charles Thomson 1769 

Matthew Matthew Jackson 1757 

Jacobi, Charles Matthew Usher 1752 

Jekyll, John Margaret J ekill I75i 

Jenkins, Joseph Charles Jenkins 1752 

William Do • 1752 

Jennings, Henry perse 1762 

Michael . John Jennings 1762 

Jepson, John Anthony Stocker 1755 

Jervis, John John Jervis 1752 

Johns, Richard • John Chew 1762 

Johnson, Alexander John CUfton I75i 

Francis Randle Mitchell 1765 

Heathcote John Johnson 1757 

John Do 1756 



542 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Johnson, John William Smith 1756 

John perse 1758 

Robert John Johnson 1761 

Johnston, Archibald* William West 1769 

Charles Capt Jarvis Johnston 1 769 

Robert Do 1767 

Robert* Mrs Barclay 1767 

Jones, George Mr Wilcocks 1768 

Joseph Thomas Cliiiford 1761 

Latimer Thomas Willing 1757 

Philip Do 1757 

Robert Isaac Jones 1752 

Robert Strettell* Do 1756 

Samuel* per se 1761 

Josiah, James Emanuel Josiah 1760 

Robert Do 1760 

Judah, David Abraham Judah 1760 

Judkins, Stephen Townsend White 1762 

Kearney, Francis Philip Kearney 

James Do 

Michael Do 

Ravand Dr Peter Sonsman 

Keen, Reynold Peter Keen 

Keene, Samuel* ■ ■ Dr James Dove 

Keimar, Thomas Dr Morgan 

Kellen, James George Lee 

Kelly, Erasmus* per se 

Kemble, Peter Robert Tuite 

Stephen Do 

Kendall, Joseph Benjamin Kendall 

William William Allen, Esq 

Keppele, Henry Henry Keppele 

John Do 

King, Edward James Piller 

John* per se 

Thomas Joseph King 

William Capt. Alison 

Kinnersley, William* Ebenezer Kinnersley 

Kinsey, Charles Mrs Pritchard 

Kirk, John Samuel Kirk 

Knight, Charles John Knight 

John Elizabeth Knight 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 543 

Entered By Whom Year. 



Knowles, Edward Godfrey . . . Matthias Leamy 

Knox, John Nestor Falkner 

KoUoch, Philip Joseph Swift . . 

iCuhn, Adam 

Daniel Simon A. Kuhn 

Peter Dr Adam Kuhn 

Kuhl, Benjamin Marcus Kuhl . 



Lacavalerie, John Capt Burrows . . . 

Lang, James* per 

Langdale, Joshua Philip Syng .... 

Langley, Thomas Dr M<^Lean .... 

Lardner, James* Lynford Lardner, Esq 

John Do 

William* Do 

Latimer, Henry* Mr Davidson . . . 

Lawrence, Elisha per se 

John Thomas Lawrence . 

Staats Do 

Thomas* Do 

Lawson, Alexander* Thomas White . . . 

Henry Thomas Gilbert . . 

Lea, George Dr Adam Thomson . 

Joseph Elias Boudinot . . 

Leaming, Jonathan per se 

Person . Aaron Leaming . . 

Thomas Ebenezer Kinnersley 

Leamy, John Matthias Leamy . . 

Lee, Richard* Thomas Willing, Esq 

Leech, Benjamin Mary Leech .... 

Jacob Elinor Leech .... 

Thomas Thomas Leech . . . 

Walter Moor Mr Clayton .... 

LeGay, Benjamin MaryWeyman . . . 

Legee, Jacob Mrs Legee 

Leonard, Robert Morris .... Rev'd Mr Peters . . 

Levers, Robert* Robert Levers, Esq . 

William* Do 

Levi, Moses [Levy ?] Sampson Levi . . . 

Nathan Benjamin Levi . . . 

Lewis, Francis Capt Badger .... 

John Dr Stewart .... 

Samuel Do .... 



766 
756 
760 

751 
766 
768 
751 

768 
761 
752 
760 
769 
760 
769 
768 
762 
762 
1^1 
751 
753 
757 
751 
751 
757 

764 
753 
763 
751 
751 
756 
767 

759 
752 
766 
769 
767 
764 
768 

759 
761 
761 



544 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom 

Lindsey, William John Wilcocks 

Lisle, Joseph* John Lisle 

Little, Archibald* Andrew Little 

Livingston, Philip Alexander Lunen 

Lloyd, Edward Dr Smith 

Loockerman, Vincent Rev Ebenezer Kinnersley . . 

Lowes, Henry Richard Peters, Esq .... 

Loxly, Abraham Benjamin Loxly 

Benjamin Do 

Lownds, Francis Thomas Willing 

Luff, Nathaniel Doct Sonman 

Luke, John John Smith 

Lukens, James John Lukens 

Lyon, Charles Capt Charles Lyon 

Samuel Do 



M Afee, William William Moore . . . 

M'Call, George Samuel M' Call, jr . . 

John Do 

John Searle* Do 

M' Casland, Alexander per se 

M'Clane, Archibald per se 

McClean, John* Robert Porter . . . . 

McClure, William 

McCubbin, Nicholas Nicholas McCubbin 

McCubbins, William Nathaniel Chapman 

McDonald, Theodosius .... Amos Strettell . . . . 

McDowell, John* Alexander McDowell . 

John John Montgomery . . 

McEvers, Charles William Vanderspiegle 

McGee, Alexander William Edgell . . . 

McGraw, Perkins William Smith . . . . 

McHenry, Matthew* per se 

Mcllvaine, Joseph William Mcllvaine . . 

William Do 

Mclntire, John Michael Mclntire . . 

Michael Do 

McKenzie, William Capt Morrell . . . . 

McMichael, John John McMichael . . . 

McMurtrie, William David McMurtrie . . . 

McNaire, John Andrew McNaire . . . 

McPherson, John Capt John McPherson 

William Do 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 545 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Mackrel, Thomas Richard Peters, Esq 175 1 

Maffitt, John perse •. 1768 

Magee, Alexander Dr James Dove 1752 

Magra, Edmond Theophilus Greer 1752 

Perkins William Plumsted 1760 

Malcolm, Henry John Malcolm 1765 

William Do 1765 

Martin, Josiah William Allen, Esq 1753 

Samuel Do 1753 

William* Do .....'.. 1753 

Manning, Charles Jonathan Beve 1767 

Manny, James Francis Many 175 1 

Marshal, Richard Mr Franks 1753 

Martindale, John Thomas Austin 1757 

Mason, Abram Abram Mason 1766 

Masters, William* William Masters ... .• . . . .1751 

Mather, Joseph [Mathers?] . . . John Mather 175 1 

Maurichean, Abraham .... per se • . . . . 1761 

Mawby, John Capt Mawby . .' 1768 

Mayburry, Thomas Capt Jolly 1753 

Melchor, Adam Leonard Melchor 1762 

Isaac Do 1760 

Merchant, Henry* [Marchant ?] . Ebenezer Kinnersly 1753 

Merrifield, William Atwood Shute, Esq 1756 

Mifflin, George John Mifflin 1757 

John* Mrs Mifflin 1765. 

Jonathan Samuel Mifflin 1762 

Thomas* John Mifflin 1751 

Miller, Alexander Peter Miller 1765, 

Benjamin Do 1766 

Miln, John Thomas Austin I7S9 

Mitchell, John Andrew Caldwell 1764 

Wilham Mrs Jean Mitchell 1758 

William Thomas Mitchell 1761 

Moland, John John Moland, Esq 175 1 

Joseph Capt Hay 1767 

Robert John Moland, Esq 175 1 

Thomas Do 175 1 

Montgomery, Hugh* Dr Alison 1769 

John per se 1764 

Montgomery, Robert James Mackey 1756 

William* .... per se 1756 

Montour, John Richard Peters, Esq 1756' 



546 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom Year. 



Moore, Blany Harper Dr Smith 

• Francis Redmond Conyngham 

James Wemyss* .... Coll. Wm Moore .... 

John Harper Dr Smith 

Robert* William Moore .... 

Thomas Lloyd Do .... 

William Sturge Dr Smith 

Morgan, Benjamin Morris Morgan 

George Do 

James Samuel Morgan .... 

James Gerrard .... Townsend White .... 

John* Samuel Morgan .... 

Thomas Townsend White .... 

Morrel, John Mr David Franks . . . 

Peter Do . . . 

Morris, Anthony Samuel Morris 

Benjamin Do 

Cadwalader* .... Do 

George Anthony .... Joseph Morris 

Governeur Thomas Lawrence . . . 

Isaac 

Israel William Morris .... 

John* Samuel Morris 

Samuel Do 

Thomas Robert Morris 

Thomas Samuel Morris . . . • . 

Mowbray, John Capt John Mowbray . . 

Muhlenberg, Peter* Rev'd Henry Muhlenberg 

Murgatroyd, John Dr Salmon 

Thomas Do 

Murray, James* Dr Murray 

Lindley Mrs Durborow 



Neilson, John* Francis Alison . . 

Nicholas, Samuel Atwood Shute . . 

Nicholson, Benjamin Alexander Lunan . 

Edward Do 

Robert Robert Nicholson 

William Laetitia Howell . . 

North, George* [Noarth ?] . . . Capt George North 

Nuttle, Samuel Capt Samuel Nuttle 



766 

754 
756 
766 
769 
766 
766 
751 
751 
766 
764 
760 
764 
766 

752 
766 

751 
755 
761 

751 
753 
751 
754 
761 
764 
767 
761 
755 
755 
756 
756 



Obryan, Cornelius John Clifton 1751 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 547 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Obryan, Talbot John Clifton 1751 

William Do 1751 

O'Farrel, John* Patrick O'Farrell 1769 

Ogden, Abraham* Richard Peters, Esq 1757 

Samuel Do ^759 

Ogle, Benjamin Mr Bard 1757 

George William Ball 1756 

O'Kyll, John [O' Kill?] George O' Kyll 1752 

Oliver, James ........ per se . 1761 

Ord, John John Ord 1753 

Osborne, Charles Charles Osborne 1756 

George Mr Renaudet 1762 

John John Wilcocks 1765 

Matthew George Lucas Osborne 1751 

Robert Do 1751 

Paca, Aquila Thomas White 1752 

William* Do 1752 

Parke, John* Mr Davidson 1769 

Parker, Samuel . Benj Franklin, Esq 1752 

Paschall, Stephen Stephen Paschall 1761 

Patterson, John* perse 1763 

Paxton, James Charles Coxe I759 

William* Do i757 

Pearson, James I75^ 

Pelgrave, Ezekiel Capt Enoch Hobart 1752 

Pennock, William Joseph Yeates 1762 

Penrose, Isaac Mary Penrose 1760 

James Thomas Penrose 1751 

Jonathan James Penrose 1762 

Joseph Bartholomew Penrose 1752 

Samuel Thomas 1756 

Peters, Richard* WiUiam Peters, Esq 1751 

Thomas Do 1763 

William Do 1751 

Phillips, John Capt John Phillips 1751 

Thomas Do 1752 

Philpot, John Dr Thomas Bond ... . • . . 1762 

Phoenix, Alexander Capt James Child 1762 

Physick, Henry White* .... Edward Physick 1766 

Pierce, Henry John Neilson i7S3 

Plumsted, Clement Mrs Plumsted 1768 

Thomas William Plumsted, Esq 1751 



548 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom 

Plumsted, William Mrs Plumsted 

Porter, Alexander perse 

John* Benj Franklin, Esq 

Stephen* Rev'd John Ewing 

Postell, James* William West 

John* Do 

Potts, John Thomas Yorke, Esq .... 

Samuel Do 

Powel, Samuel* Mary Powell 

Power, Patrick Charles Batho 

Thomas Isaac Garrick 

Pratt, Charles Rebecca Pratt 

Joseph Do 

Thomas Do 

Prevost, Augustine Colonel Prevost 

Price, George 

John Jonathan Price 

William William Price 

Pringle, John* Capt Mason 

Prior, Norton Richard Brogdon 

Provoost, William John Sayres 

Purviance, Andrew Samuel Purviance 



Ramsay, Hugh per se 

Rankin, John George Rankin . . . 

Rannals, William Sarah Rannalds . . . 

Read, Franklin John Read 

John Benjamin Franklin, Esq 

Thomas* per se 

Reade, Jacob William Coxe .... 

Joseph* John Sayre 

Joseph Joseph Reade .... 

Reading, Philip* pr his Father .... 

Reed, Bowes Andrew Reed .... 

Joseph* Do .... 

Joseph Thomas Lawrence . . 

Redman, Joseph Joseph Redman . . . 

Reese, Duddleton Stocker . , . Anthony Stocker . . . 
Reily, John John Ord 

Samuel Do 

Reynolds, William Sarah Reynolds . . . 

Rice, John Leonard Milcher . . . 

Richards, Philip Daniel Currey .... 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 549 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Ridgley, Charles Dr James Dove . 1751 

Ringgold, Thomas Charles Swain 1757 

Rivers, Shadlock Joseph Rivers 1752 

Roberts, Samuel Mary Roberts 1751 

Robinson, Abraham Dr Rowan 1756 

Beverly Henry Hill 1766 

Edward Peter Robinson 1752 

Joseph Budd Robinson 1751 

William Peter Robinson 175 1 

Rogers, James Reese Meredith 1760 

Rogers, John* [Rodgers ?] . . . John Wilcocks 175 1 

Philip Reese Meredith 1760 

Ron an, John 1767 

Ross, George George Ross, 'Esq 1767 

Round, Samuel Samuel Caldwell ^1^1 

Rowan, Thomas Dr Rowan I759 

Rudolph, John 1767 

Rumsey, Nathan* Mr Davidson 1769 

Rundle, George* Daniel Rundle 1756 

Richard Do 1762 

Rush, Jacob Richard Morris 1756 

Wilham William Rush 1756 

Rutherford, John Andrew Elliot 1757 

Salter, John Capt Elisha Salter I754 

Robert Do 1754 

Sample, David* perse 1764 

Saunders, Arnold Ebenezer Kinnersly 1754 

George* . . .... Thomas Asten 1757 

John* John Relfe 1760 

Martindale Do 1759 

Savage, Nath' Littleton .... perse 1753 

Robert Robert Ritchie 1768 

Sayre, James* [Sayer ?] .... Capt John Sayre 1756 

Sayres, John John Sayres 1751 

Schuyler, Arent 1751 

Ranseler 1751 

Samuel Thomas Lawrence, Esq ... . . 1761 

Scott, Edward per se .... 1763 

John John Scott 1762 

Thomas William Scott 1761 

WilHam Do 1754 

Scull, Joseph Redmond Conyngham 1764 



550 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Scull, William 175 1 

Seth, Charles Sarah Wilkinson 1763 

Shall, Joseph Redmond Conyngham 1765 

Sharp, Gillis Capt John Wilcocks 1756 

John Do 1756 

Sharswood, George George Sharswood i757 

James . Do 1757 

William Do 1757 

Shee, John Walter Shee 1752 

Shenon, Thomas James Shenon i755 

Shewbert, Philip Isaac Zane 1751 

Shewell, Robert Ehzabeth Shewell 1760 

Stephen Stephen Shewell 1764 

Shippen, Edward Edward Shippen, Esq 1766 

John . . Dr William .Shippen 1751 

Joseph Do 175 1 

Joseph* Joseph Shippen 175 1 

Shute, John . . 175 1 

Simpson, Michael per se 1768 

Sims, Joseph Joseph Sims 1752 

Wooddrop Do 1767 

Sinclair, Henry 1751 

Small, Francis perse 1756 

Smith, Benjamin* William West 1769 

George William Smith 1752 

Gilbert Hamilton . . . . Dr Phineas Bond 1766 

James William Smith 1752 

John George Smith 1759 

John Robert Smith 1760 

John Cornelia Smith 1765 

John Joseph Sims 1768 

Jonathan Samuel Smith 1751 

Peter* William West 1769 

Samuel William Smith 1752 

Samuel Thomas Smith 1765 

Thomas Thomas Willing, Esq 1766 

Thomas* Dr Smith 1767 

William Samuel Smith 1756 

William* Dr Smith 1767 

Snow, John William Plumsted, Esq 1751 

Sobers, John John Sober 1764 

Somersall, William Mrs Piller 1757 

Southwick, Solomon* Ebenezer Kinnersly ^754 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 551 

Entered By Whom Year 

757 

755 
762 
761 
761 
764 
756 
762 

753 
766 
765 
761 
766 

766 

751 
766 
765 
766 
760 
752 

751 
766 
761 
751 
755 
756 
760 
755 
755 



Spafford, George John Spafford 

Stanley, Joseph Valentine Stanley . . . 

Richard William Stanley . . . . 

Valentine Valentine Stanley . . . 

Stedman, Charles Alexander Stedman, Esq 

John Do 

Stephens, Evan . . per se 

John [Stevens ?] . . . Joseph Bell 

Sterling, Walter Thomas Willing, Esq . . 

Stevenson, James William Vanderspiegel . 

John James Stevenson . . . . 

Robert Mr Stevenson 

Stewart, John* [Stuart?] .... per se , 

Stiegel, Jacob . . . .' . . . . John Stiegel 

Stiles, Henry Capt Stiles 

James John Nesbit 

Stillwaggon, Lawrence John Stillwaggon . . . . 

Stout, Harman Mrs Stout 

Street, John per se 

Streight, Christian* Rev Mr Muhlenberg . . 

Strettell, Robert Amos Strettell 

Stringer, Samuel Dr Thomas Bond ... 

Swan, Richard Richard Swan 

Swift, Charles John Swift 

Jacob Do 

John Samuel Swift 

John James Joseph Swift 

John White* John Swift 

Joseph* Do 

Swoope, George Henry Keppele . . . . 

Syng, Joseph Philip Syng 



Taite, Matthew* [Tate ?] . . . . Mr Davidson . . . 

Talbot, James John Talbot . . . . 

Tallman, Hinchman • Dr James Dove . . 

James James Tallman . . 

Tennison, John Thomas .... Capt Magnus Miller 

Tew, David Thomas Mullen . . 

Therould, Douro Capt John Wilcocks 

Thorn, William* per se 

Thomas, Alexander per se 

John* Mr Davidson . . . 

Luke John Sawer . . . . 



768 
766 

752 

755 
764 
766 

757 
768 
756 
769 
765 



552 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Entered By Whom Year. 

Thomas, William* Capt Morrel 1766 

Thomson, George 1751 

William Richard Peters, Esq 1752 

Thornton, George Amos Strettell 1755 

Tilghman, Edward* Richard Peters, Esq 1760 

James* James Tilghman 1762 

Philemon ... Do 1766 

William* Do 1762 

Tench* Tench Francis 1752 

Tinker, John Redmond Conyngham 1759 

Tittermary, Richard John Tittermary 1762 

Tolbert, James John Tolbert 1768 

Traill, Robert John Kidd 1761 

Tresse, Thomas Robert Greenway 1756 

Trimingham, John Alexander Lunan 1765 

Trott, John Emanuel Josiah . . . 1760 

Tucker, Richard John Nesbitt 1766 

Tuite, Robert Robert Tuite 1751 

Turner, Thomas Peter Turner 1751 

William Do 1751 

Tweedy, Joseph* Nathaniel Tweedy 1764 

Vance, Adam James Vance 

Van Cortlandt, Stephen 

Vangezel, Benjamin Evan Morgan 

Vanlaer, George 

Vaughan, Thomas Capt Lyon 

Vanlouvening, Joseph Widow Vanlouvening 

Vining, Benjamin* Benjamin Wyncoop 



Waddell, Henry* Capt John Sayre . . . 

Walker, Philip John Dickinson, Esq . 

Robert Robert Walker .... 

William Capt Magnus Miller 

Wall, Richard Gurney Wall .... 

Wallace, Joshua Maddox* . . . John Wallace .... 

Waller, Michael 

Waldron, Mainsweet Mr Lyon 

Walton, Abraham* Thomas Lawrence, Esq 

Gerard Do 

Ward, James Tench Francis, Esq 

Warner, John Thomas Riche .... 

Waterman, Kear Benjamin Hutchins 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 553 



Entered By Whom 

Watkins, John Joseph Watkins . . 

Watts, Stephen* per se 

Wayne, Anthony per se 

Weams, Thomas Dr Phineas Bond 

Webb, James 

John Elizabeth Church 

John Dr John Clifton . . 

Webbe, John William Griffiths . . 

Weiser, Benjamin Conrad Weiser . . . 

Samuel Do . . . 

Weiss, Jacob Jacob Weiss • ■ . . 

Welsh, Edward [Welch ?] . . . Thomas Gilbert . . 

Valentine Do . . . 

Wells, Benjamin 

George . . 

Richard Charles Cox .... 

West, John ... Thomas West . . . 

Westcott, George George Westcott . . 

Wey, Nicholas Joseph Wey .... 

White, James Townsend White . . 

John Do . . 

Townsend Do . . 

William* Thomas White, Esq 

Whitpaine, John Sarah Whitpaine . . 

Wickham, John Thomas Gilbert . . . 

Wilcocks, Alexander* John Wilcocks . . . 

John Do ... 

John Robert Wilcocks . . 

WiUiam Mrs Mary Hopkinson 

Wilkins, Nathaniel* .... . . George Bartram . . 

Wilkinson, Daniel Mrs Wilkinson . . 

Williams, Charles Townsend White . . . 

Charles Charles Williams 

Willing, Charles Charles Willing, Esq 

James Thomas Willing . . 

Richard Charles Willing . . , 

Willoughby, John Thomas Bourk . . . 

Wilmer, Edward Price* .... Benjamin Franklin . 

Wilt, Christian Abraham Wilt ... 

Wister, Caspar MrsWister .... 

Daniel John Wister .... 

Witherhead, William 

Wood, John Dr McLean .... 



Year. 
1760 
1760 
1763 
1752 

1753 
1752 

1751 
1757 
1754 
1754 
1762 
1756 
1757 
1759 
1760 
1761 
1764 
1769 
1760 
1752 

1759 
1752 

1754 
1754 
1757 
1751 
1751 
1761 

1753 
1769 

1753 
1752 
1762 
1751 

1759 
1752 
1762 

1753 
1762 

1753 
1752 

1753 
1760 



554 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Ente7-ed By Whom Year. 

Wood, Samuel 1751 

William Joseph Wood 1763. 

Woodcock, Thomas Charles Batho 1756 

Wooden, John Reese Meredith 1755 

Woodroe, William Henry Woodroe I754 

Wormley, Henry William Hodge 175 1 

Wright, Joseph Joseph Wright 1768 

Wynkoop, Abraham Benjamin Wynkoop 1762 

Benjamin John Inglis 1752 

James Benjamin Wynkoop 1762 

Yearswood, Naboth John Howard 1757 

Yeates, Jasper* John Yeates 1752 

John* Do 1752 

Yorke, Andrew Thomas Yorke, Esq 1751 

Edward Do 175 1 

Robinson* [Robeson?]. . Do 175 1 

Samuel Do 1762 

Thomas Do 1751 

Young, John John Young 1752 

John Col James Young 1764 

Nottley Dr Thomas Bond 1751 

William John Young 1752 



INDEX. 



Aberdeen University, curriculum, 235. 

Academy and College (see also Charity School). Accomif of {17^^), 519. 
Addresses, to Archbishop of Canterbury (1762), 404, Samuel Chandler 
(1762), 404, Lord Bute (1763), 411, King George (1763), 411. Adver- 
tisement of opening, 139. Buildings, the first, 26, 27, 109-111, 116, 
123, 124, 231; plans for (176 1), 354-359; purchase of, 70, 125, 443- 
448, 464. Charter, 177-179, 209-211, 439. Co-education, 445. 
Commencements {17 ^1'), 281, 286-291, 314; (1759), 339! (1760), 347- 
350; (1762), 360; (1763), 362, 398; (1764), 370; (1765), 431. 452- 
454; (1766), 456, 458-463; (1767). 466, 477; (1768), 463, 485; (1769), 
488; (1770), 488; (1771), 488-490. Constitutions, 46; ratification of, 
52. Ctirricuhem and Education, 138, 205, 231, 233, 234, 269, 352, 
471,473-476. Degree conferring, \()\, \<^\. Diplomas, -^x^. Eiiglish 
School, 472. Examinations, 473. i^zV^awir^-^-, first expenditures, 121; 
first funds, 51, 120, 121; finances up to 1762, 375-382; general 
subscribers, 118, 121 ; help from lotteries, 376-379; investment 
of capital (1763), 416, 417; loan from Philadelphia lottery, 121; 
Perkasie Manor, 201, 380, 344; plans in 1764, 444-446; pur- 
chase of apparatus, 125, 126, 221; purchases of property, 122, 
176, 177, 464; result of mission to England, 409, 415, 418-421; 
subscription of Trustees, 51, 118; tuition receipts, 491. Graduates, 
268, 282-284, 298, 340, 349, 360, 362, 364, 452, 453, 458, 459, 466, 
475, 478, 486, 488-491. Instructors, see Alexander, F. and P. Alison, 
Anderson, Andrews, Ayres, B. S. and T. Barton, W. P. C. Barton, 
Beard, Beveridge, Campbell, Cannon, Carroll, Constable, Davidson, 
J. Davis, Donnaldson, Dove, Dungan, Easton, Eaton, Ewing, Fon- 
taine, Fook, Grew, T. Hall, G. E., J. T., R. and Dr. R. Hare, Har- 
rison, Hunt, Jackson, Johnston, E. , H., and J. Jones, Keene, Kin- 
nersley, Kuhn, Lang, Latta, John and Joseph Montgomery, J. Mor- 
gan, Morton, Ormsby, Patterson, Peisley, Pollock, Porter, Pratt, Read, 
Rittenhouse, Rothenbuller, Rush, W. Shippen, jr., W. Smith, Steuart, 
Thomson, Wallace, WilUamson, Wilson. Instructors, in 1761, 375; 
private lesson giving, 351; salaries of, 123, 138, 142, 144, 150, 151, 
162, 167, 232, 245, 301, 375, 469, 484. King George' s \xi\.&xQ%\., 412. 
Latin School, 469. Library, 336. Logan' s offer, 57. Mathematical 
School, 470. Medical School, abrogation of degree of Bachelor of 
Physic, 491; curriculum, 475, 484-486; commencements, 485, 486, 
488-490; graduates, 491; origin, 305-307, 479-483; professors, see 
Morgan, W. Shippen, jr., Kuhn, Rush, Bond; rules, 483, 485; theses, 
489. Mission to England (1762), 382-394, 402-420. Offer to Sam. 
Johnson, 127, 130-133, 136. Origin, 501; date of origin, 11 2-1 16, 



556 HiSTORV OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

335; father, 442; first opening, 138, 139, 151; Franklin's proposals, 
30, 31, 33, 35, 46, 495; Proud's reference, 52. Political infliiejices, 
319-321, 371, 432-443. Prizes for students, 365-372. Provost, see 
- Andrews, DeLancey, W. Smith. Public appeals, 383-394, 404-406; 
see Mission to England. Public Exercises, 229-231, 233, 243, 281- 
284, 286-291, 314, 338, 345, 347, 360, 362, 370, 398. Pupils, age 
of, 265, 266; alteration in regulations, 352; boarding, 354-359, 447; 
care of, 448; deaths among, 207; expenses of, 444, 445, 447, 485; 
list of (up to 1769), 530; matriculants (in 1757), 282-284; number, 
267, 268; pranks of, 155; see also Graduates. Rectors, see F. Alison, 
D. Martin; duties, 127. Relations to Charity School, see Charity 
School. Relation with King' s College, see King's College. Relatioji 
to John Penn, yj% 380, 381. Relation to Penn' a Hospital, see Hos- 
pital, the Pennsylvania. Relation to W. Smith' s controversies, 272- 
275, 322-326, 328, 332. Religious policy, 424-429. Royal Brief, 
388-390, 402, 405. Rules a7id Statutes, 217, 483, 484. Schools, see 
English, Latin, Medical and Mathematical Schools; also see curricu- 
lum. Seal, 233. Titles, ijj, 480, 490; Matthew Arnold's term, 74. 
Tricstees, see A., J. and W. Allen, Bingham, P. and T. Bond, J. and 
T. Cadwalader, Chew, Clymer, Coleman, J. R. and W. Coxe, Duche, 
and Duche, jr., Elliott, Francis, Franklin, A. and J. Hamilton, J. I. 
C. Hare, F. and T. Hopkinson, Inglis, I. Jones, Lardner, J. and T. 
Lawrence, Leech, Logan, Maddox, Magaw, Masters, S. M'Call, jr., 
J. and T. Mifflin, R. Morris, I. Norris, R. Penn, Peters, Plumsted, 
Powell, Redman, Rittenhouse, E. Shippen, jr., W. Shippen, Stedman, 
A. and R. Strettell, Syng, Taylor, Tilghman, J. Turner, T. and W. 
White, C. , T. and T. M. Willing, Zachary. Trustees, clerks of, 108, 
221, 471; first action, 109; number necessary to transact business, 
154; places of meeting, 126; presidents, 52, 372, 374; prominence, 
317, 318; public interests of, 228; religious tenets, 130, 425; report 
of Committee on Buildings (1764), 444-446. Trustees' Meetings, 
Mintites {ly^g), 52, 109; (1750), 1 16-120, 136-138, 142, 154; (1751), 
125, 144, 150, 152, 154, 155, 162; (1752), 44. 151. 153-155. 177. 
183; (1753). 145. 170. 175. 177. 178, 183, 184; (1754). 154. 164. 175. 
201; (1755), 148, 158, 175, 209, 210, 217, 221, 222, 231, 232; (1756), 
164, 227, 232, 234, 272, 273, 282; (1757). 286, 314, 315; (1758), 
328, 336-338; (1759). 339-341. 343. 377; (1760), 344, 347. 351. 
380, 470; (1761), 351, 352, 354, 355, 357-359. 383. 385; (1762), 348, 
361, 382, 473, 480; (1763), 247, 359, 362, 366-369, 471, 473, 474; 
(1764). 373. 374. 421. 422, 426, 471; (1765), 415,452,453,481; 
(1766), 298, 460, 476; (1767), 448, 466-469, 471, 481; (1768), 249, 
472; (1769), 250, 488; (1770), 251; (1771), 489, 490; (1772), 107, 
174. Ttatioji fees, 157, 315, 375; first payment of, 141; Vice- Pro- 
vosts, see F. Alison, J. Andrews. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 557 

Alexander, Alex., tutor in College, 452, 472. 

Alison, Francis, biographical sketch, 163 ; election to Vice-Provostship, 
209 ; professorship, 162, 233, 375 ; rectorship, 162. 

Alison, Patrick, tutor in Academy, 375, 469. 

Allen, Andrew, Trustee of Academy, 340. 

Allen, John, election to Trustees of Academy, 108. 

Allen, William, biographical sketch, 61 ; subscriber to Academy, 118, 121, 

American Magazine, origin, 333. 

American Philosophical Society, first members, 31 ; origin, 18, 31 ; reor- 
ganization, 3 1 . 

Anderson, tutor in College, 470. 

Andrews, John, ordination, 303 ; professor and provost, 452 ; tutor, 470 ; 
vice-provost, 304. 

Arnold, Matthew, address in University, 74. 

Associators, origin, 32. 

Ayres, William, assistant in Charity School, 269 ; tutorship, 375. 

Barton, Benjamin Smith, professor in College & University, 169. 

Barton, Thomas, biographical sketch, 167 ; honorary degree, 348. 

Barton, Wm. P. C, professor in University, 169. 

Bartram, John, 31, Franklin's opinion of, 165. 

Baynton, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Beard, John, tutor in Academy, 343. 

Belmont Mansion on Schuylkill, ownership, 95. 

Benezet, Daniel, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Berkeley, Bishop, relations with Samuel Johnson, 130, letter to, 506. 

Beveridge, John, characteristics, 124, 342, 467, 468; death, 467; professor- 
ship, 341, 375. 

Biddle, Edward, assistant in Academy, 144. 

Bingham, William, subscriber to Academy, 118, Trustee, 89. 

Blair, Wm., subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Bond, Phineas, biographical sketch, 90; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Bond, Thomas, biographical sketch, 97 ; clinical lecturer, 488 ; founder of 
Penn'a Hospital, 181 ; connection with St. John's Lodge, 21 ; subscrip- 
tion to Academy, 118. 

Braddock's expedition, consequences of, 279; influence on Academy, 221 ; 
Pennsylvania claimants, 71. 

Breck, James L., 478. 

Brientnal, Joseph, 17. 

Brockden, Richard, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Brown, John, connection with Academy, 409. 

Burd, James, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Burgess, Thomas, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Cadwalader, General John, election to Trustees of Academy, 161. 



558 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Cadwalader, Thomas, biographical sketch, 159; election to Trustees of 
Academy, 102, 155; relation to Philadelphia Library Company, 20; to 
St. John's Lodge, 21. 

Cambridge University, age of matriculants, 265 ; education, 264, 265. 

Campbell, Samuel, tutor in Academy, 360, 375, 470. 

Cannon, James, professor in College, 466. 

Carroll, Patrick, connection with Charity School, 153; usher in Academy, 
151. 

Chandler, Samuel, connection with Academy, 404 ; letter to Dr. Peters, 
423- 

Charity School (i-^?^ also Academy and College), masters, 153, 269, 375; 
mistresses, 175, 269, 375; new building, 359; opening, 152; origin, 
no, 153; separation from College, 446. 

Chew, Benjamin, biographical sketch, 316; descendants, 317; election to 
Trustees of Academy, 71. 

Christ Church School, 45. 

Church, 2d Presbyterian, foundation, 117. 

Clymer, George, election to Trustees of Academy, 108. 

Coleman, William, biographical sketch, 107; clerk of Trustees, 220; 
member of Junto, 18; subscriber to Academy, 118; treasurer of Phila- 
delphia Library company, 20; treasurer of trustees of Academy, 52. 

Collins, John, relation with Franklin, 15. 

Columbia College, see King's College. 

Constable, John, tutor in Academy, 269. 

Cooke, Samuel, honorary degree, 348. 

Coombe, Thomas, election to Christ Church, 94. 

Coxe, John, member American Philosophical Society, 31; subscriber to 
Academy, 1 1 8. 

Coxe, John R., trustee of University, 450. 

Coxe, William, election to trustees, 343. 

Cradock, Thomas, sketch of, 171. 

Cradock, William, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Creamer, connection with Academy, 174, 175; professorship, 473. 

Davidson, James, instructor in College, 469. 

Davis, John, master in Charity School, 375; tutor in Academy, 362, 469, 

470, 472. 
E^avis, Samuel, honorary degree, 347. 
DeLancey, Wm. H., Provost of University, 65. 
Delaware College, foundation, 163, 312. 
Dickinson College, library, 159. 
Donnaldson, Wm., tutor in Academy, 269. 
Dove, David J., election to mastership, 142; private school of, 145; 

sketch of, 143-145; teacher in Germantown Academy, 378. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 559 

Duche, Jacob, election to Trustees of Academy, 70; degree, 286; subscrip- 
tion to Academy, 118. 

Duche, Jacob, jr., biographical sketch, 293; election to Trustees ot 
Academy, 374. 

Dungan, Thomas, instructor in College, 452, 470-472. 

Dunn, A., teacher in Charity School, 153. 

Easton, Jonathan, assistant in College, 472. 

Eaton, Robert, instructor in College, 470. 

Edmiston, Wm., biographical, 303. 

Edwards, Morgan, honorary degree, 361. 

Elliott, Andrew, biographical sketch, 450; election to Trustees of Academy, 

97- 
Evans, Nathaniel, death, 467; honorary degree, 453. 
Ewing, John, connection with Academy, 337, 385, 474; opinion on Indian 

troubles, 435. 

Fellow, application of term, 136. 

Fontaine, professor in College, 473. 

Fook, Paul, professor in College, 474. 

Fordyce, David, professor at Marischall College, 194. 

Fothergill, Dr., connection with College, 479. 

Francis, Tench, biographical sketch, 67; election to Trustees of Academy, 
210; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Franklin, Benjamin, biographical sketch, 11-40, 73-83. Academy con- 
nections : Academy' s reliance upon, 399 ; connection with Board of 
Trustees, 27, 52, 81; correspondence with Dr. Johnson, 506-509, 510- 
515; disassociation, 227; on disposal of funds (1750), 120, 123; 
draughter of Constitutions, 46; founder of Academy, 33; first pro- 
posals (1743), 30, 31; prospectus and proposals (i749). 35> 495; 
resignation of presidency of Trustees, 272; subscription, 118; ideas 
on education, 244-251. Colonel of Philadelphia regiment, 226. 
''Cool Thoughts,"" etc., 435. Degrees conferred upon, 14, 180. 
Electrical studies, 75,77, 173,401. i^3z^;?(^^r of Pennsylvania Gazette, 
19; of the first American insurance company, 24, 182; of Pennsyl- 
vania Hospital, 76, 181. Friendships, with Wm. Allen, 64; with 
John Bartram, 165; with Samuel Johnson, 127, 130, 132; with the 
Penns, 64, 439-441; with Wm. Smith, 190-192, 200, 335, 395-402; 
with Whitefield, 25, 28. " Na7'rative of the late Massacres," etc., 
433. Plan of a constitutional federatioti, 203, 204. Postmastership, 
24, 180. '' Remarks on a late Protest," etc., 441. Relation to 6'/«»?j2^ 
Act, 457. Treaty with Indians, 183. Usefulness, 182. Visits, to 
England (1774), 440, 443; to Yale College, 208. 



560 HiSTORV' OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Friends' Publick School, early teachers, 42, 43 ; foundation, 41 ; overseers, 
43, 44; location, 45. 

German immigrants, see Society for Education of Germans. 

Germantown Academy, foundation, 145, 378; lottery for, 378. 

Godfrey, Thomas, member of American Philosophical Society, 31; mem- 
ber of Junto, 18; obituary by Franklin, 109. 

Grace, Robert, 18. 

Greenway, Robert, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Grew, Theophilus, election to mathematical mastership, 142; honorary 
degree, 286; sketch of, 146, 147. 

Growden, Lawrence, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Hall, David, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Hall, Thomas, tutor in Academy, 106, 472. 

Hamilton, Alexander, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Hamilton, Andrew, election to Trustees of Academy, 65. 

Hamilton, James, biographical sketch, 211; election to Trustees of 
Academy, 61, 211; relation to St . John's Lodge, 21; subscription to 
Academy, 118. 

Hamilton, "William, epilogue by, 230. 

Hare, George Emlen, professor in University, 89. 

Hare, J. I. C. , trustee and professor in Univei'sity, 89. 

Hare, Robert, trustee of Academy, 89. 

Hare, Dr. Robert, professor in University, 89. 

Harrison, Richard, tutor in Academy, 375. 

Harvard College, 13; early curriculum, 258-261; father of, 258; grad- 
uates, 268. 

Hasell, Samuel, subscriber to Academy, 118, 119, 121. 

Hazard, Samuel, ground sold to Academy, 122; subscriber to Academy, 
118. 

Hicks, Edwards, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Hill, Richard, subscriber to Academy, 118. , 

Hodge, Andrew, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Holwell, Frances, mistress of Charity School, 175, 269. 

Hopkinson, Francis, biographical sketch, 296; dissension from Faculty, 
363; degree, 286; " Errata on the Art of Printing," 364; essay, 179; 
prize dissertation, 369. 

Hopkinson, Thomas, biographical sketch, 100; death, 155; member of 
American Philosophical Society, 31; relation to Philadelphia Library 
Company, 20; to St. John's Lodge, 21; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Hospital, the Pennsylvania, first physicians, 71; foundation, 76, 180-182, 
482; kinship with University, 182, 482, 483, 485. 

Howe, General, residence in Philadelphia, 70. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 561 

Humphreys, James, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Humphreys, William, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Hunt, Isaac, libds on the College, 460, 461; tutor in Academy, 362, 

364, 472. 
Huntingdon, foundation of, 465. 
Hutchins, Joseph, honorary degree, 466. 

Inglis, John, aid for Academy, 410; biographical sketch, 66j subscription 
to A ademy, 1 18. 

Jackson, Paul, biographical sketch, 292; clerk to trustees, 221; death, 
4(^/; degree, 286; elections to instructorships, 151, 233. 

Jame , Abel, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Jay. james, connection with Academy and King's College, 390-393, 405, 
407, 409, 410, 414, 419, 420; knighthood, 412. 

Jeykill, Margaret, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Johnson, Samuel, biographical sketch, 128; call to Academy, 127, 130, 
131 (and Appendix C); correspondence with Franklin, 507, 510-515; 
with Dr. Peters, 509, 510; declination of Academy's offer, 132; 
" Elementa philosophica," 133; president of King's College, 131, 
133; death, 135. 

Johnston, Robert, tutor in Academy, 364, 471. 

Jones, Edward, instructor in College, 472. 

Jones, Horace, instructor in Academy, 269. 

Jones, Isaac, trustee of Academy, 86. 

Jones, John, sketch of, 150. 

Jones, Rob. Strettell, honorary degree, 453. 

Junto, formation, 17; members, 18; relation to Philadelphia Library Com- 
pany, 20. 

Keene, Samuel, tutor in Academy, 340. 

Keith, George, sketch of, 42, 43. 

King's College, advertisement of opening, 134, 516; charter, 133; date of 
term Columbia College, 135; designs for, 127, 186, 187, 207; funds 
for, 133; number of graduates, 268; medical school, 483; relation to 
Academy in Philadelphia, 134, 387, 390-394, 419, 420, 425, 483; 
religious policy, 425. 

Kinnersley, Ebenezer, biographical sketch, 172; election to English mas- 
tership, 145, 170; electrical studies, 79, 80; honorary degree, 286; 
memorial window to, 174; relations to Academy, -JT, professorship, 
375, 472; stewardship, 446, 447. 

Kirke, John, assistant in Charity School, 269. 

Kuhn, Adam, professor in College, 481. 

Kyn, Joran, founder of Swedish settlement at Upland, (^6. 



562 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Lang, James, tutor in Academy, 362, 364, 469. 

Lardner, Lynford, subscriber to Academy, 118; trustee of Academy, 374, 

449. 
Latta, James, biographical sketch, 301; degree, 286; tutor in Academy, 

232. 
Lawrence, John, election to Trustees of Academy, 103. 
Lawrence. John, jr. , subscriber to Academy, 1 18. 

Lawrence, Thomas, biographical sketch, 59; subscription to Academy, 1 18. 
Lawrence, Thos., jr., subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Leech, Thomas, biographical sketch, 82; subscription to Academy, 118. 
Library Company of Philadelphia, origin, 20. 
Logan, James, attendance on Trustees' meetings, 43; biographical sketch, 

53; death, 155; gifts to Academy, 20, 118; library, 57; overseer of 

Friends' Publick School, 43; president of the Council, 23. 
Log College, 449- 
Lotteries, 378; laws for suppression of, 379. 

Maddox, Joshua, biographical sketch, 104; election to Trustees of Acad- 
emy, 210; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Magaw, Samuel, biographical sketch, 303; degree, 286. 

Makin, Thomas, teacher in Friends' Publick School, 43. 

Martin, David, rector of Academy, 127, 136; obituary notes, 141, 142. 

Martin, Josiah, death, 286; relation with Wm. Smith, 186, 196, 205. 

Martin, Wm. T., death, 207. 

Masonic Lodge, the earhest, 21. 

Master, application of term, 136. 

Masters, Mary, historic house of, 60, 71. 

Masters, William, biographical sketch, 68; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Mather, Joseph, honorary degree, 361. 

Maugridge, Wm., member of Junto, 18. 

M'Call, Archibald, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

M'Call, Samuel, jr., biographical sketch, 71 ; subscription to Academy, ilS. 

Mcllvaine, David, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Meredith Charles, subscriber to Academy, 1 18. 

Meredith, Hugh, 18. 

Meredith, Reese, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Middleton, Mrs., mistress of Charity School, 375. 

Mifflin, John, biographical sketch, 216; election to Trustees of Academy, 
210. 

Mifilin, Thomas, election to Trustees of Academy, 91. 

M'Kean, Robert, honorary degree, 348. 

Montgomery, John, biographical note, 458; tutor in Academy, 459, 470, 
472. 

Montgomery, Joseph, usher in Academy, 343. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 563 

Moore, Judge, legal case, 322-326, 331. 

Morgan, Evan, subscriber to Academy, 1 1 8. 

Morgan, John, aid for Academy, 410; biographical sketch, 304; degree, 

286; first medical professor, 102, 479-482; winner of medal, 368, 370; 

Smith's eulogy of, 370. 
Morrey, Humphrey, first mayor of Philadelphia, 84. 
Morris, John, essay by, 179. 

Morris, Robert, election to Trustees of Academy, 95. 
Morton, Andrew, master of Charity School, 269 ; tutor in Academy, 342 ; 

charges against, 451. 
Muhlenberg, Henry, letter on German immigrants, 276. 
Muhlenberg, Henry E., 478. 

Neaves, Samuel, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Norris, Isaac, election to Trustees of Academy, 44, 58, 155; biographical 
sketch, 156; Overseer of Friends' Publick School, 43. 

Ord, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Ormsby, John, tutor in Academy, 269; in Charity School, 153. 

Oxford University, age of matriculants, 265; education, 264, 265. 

Parsons, William, member of American Philosophical Society, 31; mem- 
ber of Junto, 18. 

Paschall, Stephen, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Patterson, John, tutor in College, 452. 

Paxton Boys, 434, 436, 439 . 

Peisley, instructor in Academy, 151. 

Pemberton, James, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Penn, John, relations to Academy, 373, 374, 

Penn Richard, election to Trustees of Academy, 107. 

Penn, Thomas, interest in Academy, 344, 380, 381, 385, 388, 418 ; letter 
on Medical School, 306, 479. 

Penn Charter School, see Friend' s Publick School. 

Pennsylvania Gazette, origin, 19. 

Perkasie Manor, 201, 380, 416. 

Peters, Richard, biographical sketch, 92, 95 ; letters to Samuel Johnson, 
131, 509 ; president of Trustees of Academy, 272 ; secretary of the 
Province, 30 ; sermon at opening of Academy, 140, 141 ; subscription 
to Academy, 118 ; visit to England, 430. 

Physick, Philip Syng, connection with Academy, 88. 

Pliny, the Younger, letter of, 11. 

Plumsted, William, biographical sketch, 102 ; relation to St. John's 
Lodge, 21 ; subscriptions to Academy, 118, 120. 

Pollock (Polock), Thomas, tutor in Academy, 361, 375, 469. 



564 History of the University of Pennsylvania. 

Poor Richard's Almanack, 21. 

Porter, John, master in Charity School, 375 ; tutor in Academy, 360. 

Potts, Stephen, 18. 

Powel Samuel, election to Trustees of Academy, 88. 

Pratt, Thomas, tutor in Academy, 269, 375, 471 ; in Germantown 

Academy, 378. 
Price, George, assistant in Charity School, 153. 
Princeton College, founders, 84 ; graduates, 268 ; lottery for, 378. 
Proprietaries' Interests, 157, 213, 225, 270, 311, 436, 439-441. 

Read, Samuel, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Read, Thomas, tutor in the College, 459, 470. 

Rector, application of term, 136. 

Redman, John, biographical sketch, 449 ; election to trustees of Academy, 

72. 
Reed, Joseph, Academy connections, 368, 459; honorary degree, 459. 
Rhoads, Samuel, 31. 
Rittenhouse, David, honorary degree, 466; professorship, 467; Trustee of 

Academy, 467. 
Roberdeau, Controversy, 270-275, 279. 
Ross, John, subscriber to Academy, 1 18. 
Rothenbuller, teacher in College, 474. 
Rush, Benjamin, biographical sketch, 487; professorship, 488. 

St. Andrew's Society, organization, 66. 

St. John's Lodge, formation, 21, 63. 

St. Peter's Church, location, 72. 

Sargent, John, prizes offered by, 365-372, 397; sketch of, 371, 372. 

Sauer, Christopher, opposition to Franklin, 278, 280. 

Saunders, Joseph, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Schools, of Philadelphia; early schools, 40; night schools, 150; see also 

Christ Church School, Friends' Publick School, Germantown Academy, 

Videll's Alley School, School of Tennent. 
School teachers of Philadelphia, see Beveridge, Dove, Keith, Makin. 
Scull, Nicholas, 18. 
Seabury, Bishop, ordination, 199. 
Searle, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 
Seeker, Archbishop, letter to Dr. Peters, 419. 
Sherlock, Archbishop, letter testimonial to Wm. Smith, 185. 
Shippen, Edward, subscriber to Academy, 118. 
Shippen, Edward, Jr., election to Trustees of Academy, 68, 343. 
Shippen, William, attendance at Trustees' meetings, 427; biographical 

sketch, 84; subscription to Academy, 118. 
Shippen, William, Jr. , professor in the College, 479, 482. 



History of the University of Pennsylvania. 565 

Shute, Attwood, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Simonton, John, honorary degree, 361. 

Sims, Joseph, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Smith, Isaac, honorary degree, 361. 

Smith, Sampson, honorary degree, 348. 

Smith, "William, Academy Connections, first relations, 184, 194, 197, 201, 
202; draught of charter, 209; educational projects, 187, 188, 205, 
234-244, 252-256 ; letters to Dr. Peters (1754) 204 ; mission to Eng- 
land (1762), 382-395, 402-420; prayers for use at the Academy, 197. 
^■-■Biographical Sketch, 185 ; Degrees, 332, 414, 185. Editor of 
American Magazine, 335 ; of Colonel Bouquet's Journals, 451. 
Etclogy on Dr. Morgan, 370. Help for German Immigrants, 199, 
275-279. Alarriage, 91, 329. Politics, Duquesne Campaign, 330 ; 
Indian troubles (1764), 437, 438 ; Judge Moore case, 322-326, 328, 
331 ; Roberdeau controversy, 270-275 ; political sermon (1755), 223; 
on Stamp Act, 456. Relations with Franklin, 335, 395-402. 
Religious activity, change of religion, 191 ; missionary work, 477 ; 
on religious bodies, 327 ; ordination, 199 ; preaching powers, 477 ; 
president of conventions, 451 ; rector of Oxford Parish, 455, 464 ; 
Sermons, 284, 286. Return from Eiigland,{\']^A^, 200; (1759), 344; 
(1764), 420. 

Society for Education of Germans, foundation, 275-279. 

Sonmans, Peter, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Southwlck, Samuel, honorary degree, 286. 

Stamp Act, 456-458. 

Stedman, Alexander, biographical sketch, 214 ; election to Trustees of 
Academy, 90, 211. 

Steuart, Andrew, "Short introduction to Grammar," 363, 468. 

Stiles, Ezra, oration on Franklin, 208. 

Strettell, Amos, biographical note, 449; election to Trustees of Academy, 
86, 374; subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Strettell, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Strettell, Robert, biographical sketch, 86; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Syng, Philip, biographical sketch, 87; relation to Philadelphia Library 
Company, 20; to St. John's Lodge, 21 ; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Taylor, Abram, biographical sketch, 96; subscription to Academy, 118. 

Tennent, William, school of, 449. 

Thomson, Charles, election to Latin Mastership, 142; sketch of, 147. 

Tilghman, James, election to Trustees of Academy, 67. 

Till, William, see L. William. 

Trotter, James, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Turner, Joseph, biographical sketch, 72; subscription to Academy, 118. 



566 History of the Universitv of Pennsylvania. 

Union Fire Company, origin, 24, 

University of Pennsylvania, ^iv Academy and College; see Charity School. 

Videll's Alley School, 145. 

Wallace, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Wallace, Joshua, M., alumnus of Academy, 104; tutor in the College, 466. 

Washington, George, residence in Philadelphia, 61, 70. 

Watts, Stephen, prize essay, 368: tutor in Academy, 361, 469. 

Webb, George, member of Junto, 18. 

White, Thomas, biographical sketch, 105 ; election to Trustees of Academy, 

210; subscription to Academy, 118. 
White, Townsend, subscriber to Academy, 1 1 8. 
White, William, biographical note, 452; on Jacob Duche, Jr., 295, 296; 

rector of Christ Church, 94, 106; trustee of the College, 452. 
Whitefield, George, arrival in Philadelphia, 25; confession of faith, 117, 

death, 28 ; last visit to Philadelphia, 28: ordination, 25 ; preaching in 

Christ Church, (1763), 455; preaching powers, 109, no; sermon at 

Academy, (1764), 432. 
Wilcocks John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 
William and Mary College, adoption of curriculum of Philadelphia 

College, 263; education, 262; graduates, 267, 268, origin, 261. 
William, Lawrence, vs. William Till, 104. 
Williamson, Hugh, biographical sketch, 309; degree, 286; instructor in 

Academy, 232, 269, 375, 471. 
Willing, Charles, biographical sketch, 88; subscription to Academy, 118. 
Willing, Thomas, election to Trustees of Academy, 89, 105, 374. 
Willing, Thomas M., trustee of Academy, 89. 
Wilson, James, tutor in the College, 459. 
Wilson, Matthew, honorary degree, 348. 

Yale College, early curriculum, 256-258 ; first professorship, 255 ; first 
use of term "professor," 254; graduates, 268 ; relation to Harvard 
College, 258 ; religious troubles (1722), 129 ; removal to New Haven, 
128, 258; use of terms "rector," "master," "fellow," "tutor," 
136. 

Yeates, John, subscriber to Academy, 118. 

Zachary, Lloyd, biographical sketch, 70; subscription to Academy, 118. 



3477 



